September 2010 – Robert Morgan, Naturopath

Energy Soup Recipe

This Energy Soup is extremely nourishing to the body. Our Energy soups may be drank from a glass much like a green smoothie, by adding a little more rejuvelac or filtered water. The blending aids in digestion and absorption of the vitamins, minerals and phyto-nutrients found in these wonderful live foods. Energy soup is one of the best food there is for detoxing and rebuilding our bodies. It boosts our energy levels an re-enforces our bodies ability to more efficiently handle elimination of toxins. This Energy soup blend has everything the body needs, protein, sugar, fat, water, sodium, carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins.

Ingredients:

2 leaves romaine lettuce
4 leaves turnip or collard greens
2 leaves dark green kale or spinach
1 cup sunflower & buckwheat greens (never use buckwheat greens two days in a row)
1 zucchini or yellow squash
1 cucumber
1 large apple, or pear (may also use mango, papaya, pineapple)
1 cup fresh sprouts (alfalfa, red clover, fenugreek, mung bean, etc…)
2 tablespoons dulse flakes (may add kelp, nori, and other sea vegetables)
1 cup Rejuvelac
½ avocado – DO NOT USE BANANA – WITH THE AVOCADO

Herbs That Affect Our Blood Pressure

Many of our guests, upon leaving Creative Health Institute, enhance their own healing journey by utilizing herbs for a period of time. This practice does not diminish the effect of the detox and rebuild programs that have helped our guests for more than 30 years. In many instances it helps our guests strengthen their immune systems as they combine herbal based therapy and apply what they have learned during their stay at the institute. Some of our former guest choose to include herbal formulas, essential oils and aromatherapy to augment their health program. Taking herbs, and using essential oils and aromatherapy for medicinal purposes should only be done under the supervision of a Master Herbalist and/or a health specialist.

Some herbs which may lower blood pressure include:

Aconite/monkshood, arnica, baneberry, betel nut, bilberry, black cohosh, bryony, calendula, California poppy, coleus, curcumin, eucalyptol, eucalyptus oil, evening primrose oil, flaxseed, garlic, ginger, ginkgo, goldenseal, green hellebore, hawthorn, Indian tobacco, jaborandi, mistletoe, night blooming cereus, oleander, pasque flower, periwinkle, pleurisy root, shepherd’s purse, Texas milkweed, turmeric, and wild cherry.

Some herbs that may increase blood pressure include:

Arnica, bayberry, betel nut, blue cohosh, broom, cayenne, cola, coltsfoot, ephedra/Ma huang, ginger, licorice, Polypodium vulgare , and yerba mate.

Arnica is in both lists.This is because a particular herb whicht can lower blood pressure in its primary action, and may result in the with raising high blood pressure as a secondary reaction.

That is why you will observe sometimes contradictory rubrics for the same symptom. You can find Lyco worse with heat, and also better with heat, in most of the repertories.

7 Amazing Foods That Help Stop Cancer Before It Starts

Fight Cancer:

1. Raw Cabbage or Sauerkraut: 1/2 cup three times weekly. The anticarcinogenic compounds in cabbage are called glucosinolates. Studies in Poland have shown that people who ate a lot of cabbage in their youth were 40% less likely to get breast or prostate cancer.

2. Raw Flaxseeds: 3 tablespoons daily, One tablespoon breakfast lunch and dinner. It is the lignans in flax that act like a weak estrogen, which can result in a 58% less risk of breast cancer.

3. Raw Reishi Mushrooms: 1/2 cup daily. Reishi mushrooms have a rich content of organic polysaccharides and triterpenes (known as ganoderic acid), which have been proven to enhance the body’s immune functions. In 1986, Dr. Fukumi Morishige, M.D., Ph.D, a renowned Japanese surgeon and a member of the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine,found that the active anti-cancer constituent in the reishi mushroom is a polysaccharide called beta-D-glucan, which is thought to stimulate or modulate the immune system by activating immune cells, as well as enhance the immunoglobin levels to produce a heightened response to foreign cells. Two other studies which were completed in 2008 found reishi mushrooms, combined with green tea, creates a synergetic effect that inhibits the growth of tumors and delayed the time of death in mice with sarcomas.

4. Raw Olives & Olive Oil: 8-10 large olives daily, or 5 teaspoons of raw olive oil. Researchers in Europe have shown that DNA damage is associated with cancer risks. They measured the effects on DNA damage in 183 participants and found that in less than three weeks that those eating five teaspoons of uncooked olive oil had an average DNA damage decrease of 13 percent. This remarkable study show the impact that the oil of olives have on cancer prevention can be comparable to the positive effect of completely quitting smoking.

5. Raw Pungent Onions: 1/2 cup five times times weekly. Researchers at Cornell University have found, in preliminary lab studies, that members of the onion family with the strongest flavor — particularly New York Bold, Western Yellow and shallots — are the best varieties for inhibiting the growth of liver and colon cancer. Onions were significantly better at inhibiting the growth of colon cancer cells than liver cancer cells, an indication that they are potentially better at fighting colon cancer. The potent antioxidant quercetin which is found in pungent onions, is linked to protection against cataracts, heart disease and now cancer.

6. Raw Sprouted Pumpkin Seeds: 1/4 cup daily. Raw sprouted pumpkin seeds play a great part in the prevention of cancer. Phytosterols contained in pumpkin seeds fight a number of different cancers such as breast, colorectal, gastric, lung and prostate. Pumpkin seeds are loaded with the powerful antioxidant Selenium. Selenium fights free radicals and kills cancer cells. Pumpkin seeds also contain Omega 3, another known cancer fighting ingredient.

7. Raspberries: 1 cup three to five times weekly. Researcher Christine Sardo of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, says berries, particularly black raspberries, are loaded with ellagic acid–a phytochemical shown to inhibit the growth of cancer in laboratory studies. Researchers at Ohio State gave rats a cancer-causing compound and then fed some of the rodents a diet rich in black raspberries. After 30 weeks, the raspberry-eating rats showed a significant reduction in cancers of the mouth and esophagus and an 80 percent decrease in the number of tumors in the colon. Early results of a study involving people at high risk for esophageal cancer also show positive results. It’s not just the ellagic acid in berries that seems to fight cancer, says Sardo. “The numerous phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals and fiber may act together for disease prevention.”

According to Karen Collins, nutrition consultant to the American Institute for Cancer Research, ellagic acid provides “several different anti-cancer methods at once: It acts as an antioxidant, it helps the body deactivate specific carcinogens, and it helps slow the reproduction of cancer cells.”

Robert Morgan – Bobby

Director of Health Education

Creative Health Institute

Union City, Michigan 49094

866.426.1213

What Is Healing Music?

Since the beginning of recorded history, music has played a significant role in the healing of our world. Music and healing were communal activities that were natural to everyone. In ancient Greece, Apollo was both the god of music and medicine. Ancient Greeks said, “Music is an art imbued with power to penetrate into the very depths of the soul.” These beliefs were shared through their Doctrine of Ethos. In the mystery schools of Egypt and Greece, healing and sound were considered a highly developed sacred science. Pythagoras, one of the wise teachers in ancient Greece, knew how to work with sound. He taught his students how certain musical chords and melodies produce definite responses within the human organism. He demonstrated that the right sequence of sounds, played musically on an instrument, could actually change behavior patterns and accelerate the healing process.Plato shared this profound belief, “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety and life to everything. It is the essence of order, and leads to all that is good, just, and beautiful, of which it is the invisible, but nevertheless dazzling, passionate and eternal form.” Deepak Chopra has beautifully written, “Where is music? You can find it at many levels in the vibrating strings, the trip of the hammers, the fingers striking the keys, the black marks on the paper, or the nerve impulses produced in the player’s brain. But all of these are just codes; the reality of music is the shimmering, beautiful, invisible form that haunts our memories without ever being present in the physical world.”

In 1993 Goldman & Gurin’s work on psycho-immunology revealed that nerve fibers are contained in every organ of the immune system, which provide biological communication between the nerve endings and the immune system. They believe that there is a direct link between a person’s thoughts, attitudes, perceptions, and emotions, and the health of the immune system. This being the case, we have the ability to be proactive in the health of our body, mind and spirit through music.

Music is a way to tap into the innate knowledge that resides deep in our cells. We live “in” music. Great music nourishes us in ways we don’t even realize. It inspires us, relaxes us, energizes us–in short, it heals us and keeps us well. And music can be found everywhere in our world. While we may not always be listening to a Beethoven Symphony or a Mozart Sonata, the universe is a tonal symphony of many sounds interacting and vibrating together. Music is the pulse of the energy that courses in and through everything through vibrations.

Don Campbell, author of The Mozart Effect, says that music can be delicate and quiet, but never sedentary. Even a tone that extends for hours at a time, unvarying, carries a pulsing wave that affects our mind and body at many levels. What we bring to each sound is also of vital importance to our well-being. He goes on to say, “You, the listener, determine the final impact: You are an active conductor and participant in the process of orchestrating health through the listening process.”

Felix Mendelssohn once said, “Music cannot be expressed in words, not because it is vague but because it is more precise than words.”

The Physical Process of Hearing

Our listening process starts with hearing. Beginning at the sixteenth week after conception and continuing until our death, hearing is a constant physical phenomenon. Sound waves are captured by the outer ear (known as the pinna), and travel down the auditory canal, through the eardrum and into the middle ear. There, the vibration of tiny bones called ossicles intensifies sound, and the amplified sound then travels to the inner ear through a maze of fluid-filled tubes, running through the temporal bone of the skull. Eventually the vibrations of sound reach the cochlea (a coiled chamber), which is lined with four rows of tiny hair-like acoustic sensor cells containing neurons. Each neuron is programmed to pick up a different frequency and the sound meets with the neuron that matches its own frequency. The cochlea then converts the vibrational energy to electrical impulses that travel to the brain, and from there, travel to the brain stem. This energy at the brain stem activates the limbic system. It is here that emotional and physical reactions are produced. Sound energy then moves on to the auditory cortex of the brain where we become conscious of the sound and can recognize what we are hearing.As your brain comprehends the sounds or in this case the music, the electrical energy released by the neurons creates various frequencies of brain waves. The brain waves that are created (beta, alpha, theta, and delta) determine what ‘states of mind’ you are in. I say states, because we are not in just one state of mind–but always some combination. Beta waves are most prevalent during focused and active thinking, alpha waves during relaxation and quiet creativity, theta waves during meditation and pre-sleep, and delta waves during our various stages of sleep (both dreaming and dreamless.)Once through your brain, music in the form of electrical impulses make their way down your spinal cord causing an impact on the autonomic nervous system. This, in turn, can impact heart rate, pulse, blood pressure, and muscle tension. As an example, listening to the heavy metal will increase autonomic nervous system activity driving the heart rate and blood pressure up, whereas Brahms Lullaby will slow down the brainwaves and in turn lower blood pressure and hear rate.

The Power of Chant and Toning

Music of many different genres can help to enhance the mind/body connection. Healing mantras, chants, and incantations have ancient origins and are seen throughout history and in every major world culture– Hinduism, Muslim, Judaism, Native American, Polynesian, Asian, Sufi, etc. The power of chant involves bridging the two worlds of humanity and eternity (spirituality.) It allows a person to touch a deeper world that is organic and flowing. Chant has no set rhythm, but rather it is based on the breath in combination with tonal patterns of sustained vowels.Another powerful form of sounding is toning. There are many definitions of toning. Laurel Elizabeth Keyes, forerunner of toning as a healing art, and author of Toning: The Creative Power of the Voice, said, “Toning is an ancient method of healing…the idea is simply to restore people to their harmonic patterns.” Don Campbell describes toning as, “Simple and audible sound, prolonged long enough to be identified. Toning is the conscious elongation of a sound using the breath and voice.” John Beaulieu, author of Music and Sound in the Healing Arts says, “Toning is the simple and natural process of making vocal sounds for the purpose of balance…toning sounds are sounds of expression and do not have a precise meaning.”

Keyes recounts in her book the time when she first started to experiment with toning. She said that it was more than just a release of tension. When she allowed the tones to emerge without trying to control them, she experienced a cleansing of her whole body. “I was convinced that there had to be a relationship between this natural body-voice and the mind without conflict, and with benefit to both.”

Toning and chant have been making their way into mainstream culture over the last twenty years. Chant, the popular recording from the early 1990 by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos, Spain, sold over 4 million copies in forty-two countries by the Spring of 1994. These monks have committed themselves to a lifestyle that is based on cycles. Others do not experience these cycles in the world in the same way. The cycles revolve around the sacred liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, and include an intricate series of interlocking patterns within the organization. By submitting themselves to these cycles, the monks actually become part of this great tapestry of history and sound.

Katherine Lee Mee, producer of the CD, says about this recording, “Time seems to stop. The darting mind falls still and attentive, arrested from its worldly concerns and preoccupations…like fire, each line has its own brightness and energy, a force that is called forth, raised and then surrendered. Like water, the music rises and falls in a gentle wave of love that bathes, cleanses, and caresses our spirits, leaving us buoyed up and restored.”

The San Francisco Examiner music critic had this to say about Chant, “What we’re talking about is inner peace, transcendence, a serenity, beyond mortal care. For a generation that frowns on organized religious movements (or organized anything), this is, without a doubt, the new soul music.”

Powerful affective responses to music can be witnessed in the lives of spiritual masters. Their physical health reflects their spiritual health as well. They experience this power through practicing the art of music and chant as a means of obtaining spiritual enlightenment. Where did the ancient chants originate? Were they evolved from logical thought processes that were later transferred to a musical format? Or rather, were they birthed from those who had learned to harness the healing powers of their spirit, and given expression through their spiritual practice to bring the ecstatic experience into vocal and instrumental form through music?

Jill Purce, pioneer in the field of healing with the voice and author of “The Mystic Spiral” says, “One of the effects of chanting is the dissolution of boundaries, and when this happens something new can take place in the psyche and body of a person. Chanting seems directly to stimulate the emission of certain chemicals in the brain, such as endorphins, which give rise to states of enhanced awareness, blissful calm, and other deep meditative states.” Jill teaches the practice of overtone chanting throughout the world. This form of chant is has its origins in Eastern cultures. The Tibetan monks seem to reach into the heart of Mother Earth with their deep toning and lift the tones to heaven as the beautiful overtones rise naturally from the powerful bass notes.

Mongolian overtone chanting comes from the nomadic culture of Siberia. The throat singing, part of the Mongolian folk culture, reflects many of the sounds heard in the nature around them. Often this type of chant resembles the sounds of birds and crickets and other sounds that can be a little unfamiliar to Westerners. However, Purce, says that, “Enchantment really means to make magic through chant.” And that she does in the workshops she teaches about chant throughout the world.

Music as Therapy

Music allows us to transcend the everyday states of consciousness and travel to places that either a memory of to a place of creative imagination. This process of transcending the mundane evokes psycho-physiologic responses when people shift into altered states of consciousness. When an individual uses music for relaxation, their abstract thinking is slowed down while they remain in a normal waking state. As they continue with their process of relaxation, the individual moves through the remainder of the six states of consciousness, which are: expanded sensory threshold, daydreaming, trance, meditative states, and rapture.In these states of consciousness, time takes on a different meaning for the individual. Often during music therapy sessions, people will lose track of time for extended periods, which in turn helps them to reduce feelings of stress, anxiety, fear, and pain.

Stress has become, in modern society, the subject of many best-selling books and is often a lead story in the news. Non-invasive and easily accessible ways to deal with stress have now become sought after by the mainstream society especially with the highly controversial use of illegal and prescription drugs and the potential hazards they pose with long-term use. People need to be educated about the remedial effects of music as therapy. Unfortunately, many people still feel that music used as therapy is just another liberal health fad. This notion comes from their ignorance on the subject. Despite this belief, music therapy continues to be a growing occupation. There are more than 5,000 certified and licensed music therapists in the United States working in hospitals, rehabilitation units, health-care and educational settings. The American Music Therapy Association now recognizes 68 schools in the United States who offer programs of study in Music Therapy.

Music Therapy is a non-verbal type of therapy, as opposed to other types of therapy where the client talks about feelings and experiences of life. Music Therapy presents an alternative to traditional types of therapy, and provides the following benefits to patients:

		More direct access to thinking and feeling states.
		Opportunity to “contain” feelings for periods of time so that these can be explored, examined, and worked through for the individual.
		Non-verbal expression of thinking and feeling states that are not yet within the verbal domain for the individual.
		Elicitation of imagery and associations that are not accessible through verbal means.
		More direct physiological benefits for the individual than verbal methods.
		Freedom to explore and try out various solutions to patient thinking and feeling problems through exploration and creativity.
		There are many applications of Music therapy in our everyday lives and the fields of treatment are very broad, encompassing psychotherapeutic, educational, instructional, behavioral, pastoral, supervisory, healing, recreational, activity, and interrelated arts applications.

Barbara Crowe, past president of the National Association of Music Therapy, suggests music and rhythm create their healing effects by calming the constant chatter of the left brain. “A loud repetitive sound sends a constant signal to the cortex, masking input from other senses like vision, touch, and smell,” she explains. When sensory input is decreased, the normally noisy left brain with its internal conversations, analyses, and logical judgments subsides to a murmur, stimulating deeper parts of the brain that are throne-rooms of symbols, visualization, and emotions. “This is the seat of ritual in tribal societies,” she observes. “There is a clear, distinct parallel between traditional shamanism and the practices we do in music therapy today.”

Raymond Bahr, Director of Coronary Care at St. Agnes Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland contends, “Without a doubt, music therapy ranks high on the list of modern day management of critical care patients…Its relaxing properties enable patients to get well faster by allowing them to accept their condition and treatment without excessive anxiety.”

Laurie Riley is the founder of The Music for Healing and Transition Program, a certification program that trains people to serve the critically ill and dying with live music to promote healing or assisting in the life/death transition. This program offers another level of certification in healing with music. Certified healthcare musicians play live music at the bedsides of the ill and/r dying in clinical settings, but no interaction is required of the patient, who may be unable to interact (comatose, noncommunicative, heavily medicated, or dying). The music is offered to enhance the environment, without the necessity of setting a specific goal for the patient.These well-trained practitioners play in pre-op, post-op, neonatal, ICU, NICU, CCU, ER, oncology, obstetrics, and sometimes OR, as well as in general care areas. They are trained in clinical deportment, legal issues, infection control, appropriate repertoire, corporate compliance, music skills, resonance science, entrainment, anatomy/physiology, monitoring, observation skills, and so on. There are several training programs, overseen by a national standards board. Titles include Certified Music Practitioners, Certified Harp Practitioners, and Advanced Certified Clinical Musicians. (The latter trains its students in professional-quality musicianship as well as therapeutic-level music skills.)Certified healthcare musicians’ clinical expertise falls between that of a well educated sound healer and a Board Certified Music Therapist, thusly:

1. Sound Healers use music and/or sound for self-healing, and sometimes in private-client or group settings, and are not necessarily certified.
2. Certified healthcare musicians (CHP’s. ACCM’s, CMP’s) offer live music at the bedsides of inpatients in hospital, hospice, and nursing home settings, as an enhancement to the healing environment and an adjunct to medical care.
3. Music Therapists use goal-oriented therapy, with music as the main tool, for private, group, and/or inpatient clients.

Healthcare musicians are carefully instructed never to attempt to do verbally or physically interactive work involving music, as this is the realm of the Music Therapist. We absolutely respect the marvellous work of Music Therapists. Likewise, I feel strongly that sound healers should be
instructed that they may not call themselves Music Therapists, Music Practitioners, Harp Practitioners, Harp Therapists, or Clinical Musicians, and that certification is necessary to work in a clinical/medical setting.

How Music Affects Us

How does music affect our well-being? It seems that there is no definitive answer to that question. However, experts in the field of music and sound therapy feel there are two major ways in which music and sound can affect our lives. The first is the principle of entrainment. This refers to the phenomena of being in sync. In other words, our bodies automatically adjust to the pace, rhythm, or pulse of the music. How many times have you walked into a room with other things on your mind and heard music playing? You stop to listen for a few minutes and all of the sudden, your foot is tapping to the music or you are swaying your head or body with the beat. Or, a certain piece of music evokes memories of a time when you heard the music before, and the feelings of that time come immediately back into your awareness? How is it that we can hear a musical jingle in a commercial that we haven’t heard for maybe 20 or 30 years and we can sing it as though we just learned it? In scientific terms, our psyches and bodies become entrained to the sonic environment created by the music. And what is more, the music becomes a part as it becomes stored in our memory.

The Effect of Music on Society

In the west one of the most memorable periods in popular music was the era of the Beatles. When they appeared on the scene in 1963, with lyrics like, “You say you want a revolution, well you know, we all want to change the world”, that is exactly what their music did. Their powerful music accompanied us through the trio assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the 10 years of the Vietnam War, and the nuclear threat and cold war. The world emerged from these powerful historical events in a different way. Somehow the innocence of the 1940’s and 1950’s was gone. The music of the Beatles offered us hope in a time of great despair, and to this day continues to brighten the lives of young people who find themselves singing along with the memorable lyrics and recognizable melodies.

Music for Entrainment

Entrainment is a powerful tool in behavior modification. In effect, the principle of entrainment directly relates to the Greek word isomorphic (commonly referred to as the ISO principle). Isomorphic means same form or appearance. Therefore, musical entrainment is actually a process of joining with feelings conveyed in the music and sensing the feeling of commonality with it. One might almost have an experience of feeling a connection with the composer or performer by sharing emotions and feelings conveyed in the music, either through its creation or through the performance itself. Music in this sense can be a powerful tool in both positive and negative ways to the listener. Music entrainment is more than just a tool to be used for behavior modification, however. Music has the power to integrate the whole, person allowing profound healing on many levels.Music is one of the few experiences that can touch a person on all levels of consciousness. It is a powerful sensory stimulus that can work simultaneously on the body, mind, and spirit. Vibrational entrainment, as a result of listening to music, can bring harmony to the body by actually entraining the body with the music. It can have a transformative affect on an individual by moving through the body systems and bringing about harmony. Through the use of music, positive affects have been seen in the nervous system, affecting the endocrine system, which in turn enhances the immune system.

For centuries shamans have used drums and vocal sounds as an integral part of healing practices in indigenous cultures. They often went into a trance themselves through the power of music, which they used as a tool in assisting the healing process.

Music for Diversion

A second principle that music utilizes in affecting patients is the principle of diversion. This method of utilizing music and sound is helpful in taking the attention away from an unpleasant or unwanted situation. An example of diversionary music is the playing of bright, happy, energizing music when the listener feels down in the dumps. Music, in this sense, can be used in a therapeutic situation to reduce anxiety and pain, transporting the listener to another reality temporarily during the healing process.The International Association of Pain has defined pain, “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.” In more esoteric terms, pain is a symptom of disharmony. Pain can be viewed as a series of sounds or vibrations that send messages to the brain indicating a disharmony in some part of the body. Think of this vibration as an alarm sounding to warn of a problem in the body. The mind and body can be re-programmed or harmonized to a place of harmony and healing by entraining it with soothing music.

Music as Medicine

Music enters into the body through the ear, and the bones of the body act like a tuning fork. The neurological fields of the body are then stimulated by music. Music is a means by which all people can feel these healing vibrations. Even people with profound handicaps can benefit from music’s healing affects. Research in physiological responses to music supports the hypothesis that listening to music influences a person’s autonomic responses. Science has proven that music focused in the higher register increases tension. Conversely, music played in the lower register reduces tension. Music that is played at a tempo of 80-90 beats per minute increases tension, while music at played at 40-60 beats per minute decreases tension.According to Dr. Arthur Harvey, there are four distinct ways in which our brain responds to music: cognitive, affective, physical, and transpersonal. In other words we can experience music by analyzing its structure (melody, harmony, rhythm, tone, form, etc.), by feeling the music with our emotions, by noticing the affects of music on our heart rate, breathing, etc. or feeling a connection to God through music.

When Music is used as medicine it is used in a way that directly affects the health of the patient. An example is the use of music in “audio-analgesia.” Music is used in this way to alleviate or lessen pain, and can be used, at times, in lieu of pain medications. When music is used in this way, it is a necessary component in affecting the outcome of the treatment.

Vibrational therapy sessions can be used to affect physiological changes such as lowering of blood pressure, heart rate, and muscle tension. Studies have shown that music used as medicine can increase the immune function and decrease ACTH (stress) hormones. Music and sound has also been shown to kill cancer cells. As outrageous as this may seem, studies have shown this to be true. I have first-hand experience with this because of my own miraculous healing from breast cancer by the use of sound.

Another benefit of “healing” music is to stir our emotions and feelings, to help us deal with grief, sadness, anger or other feelings. By allowing us to really experience our feelings, the intensity will eventually lessen and even dissipate, resulting in healing. When we avoid our feelings (consciously or unconsciously) they tend to build up inside. They don’t just go away. Music and sound are wonderful tools for helping us to deal with feelings within us, whether we’re aware of them or not.

“The powers that be can be communicated to earth by means of music are as yet scarcely suspected by the average individual. But the time is fast approaching when people will select their music with the same intelligent care and knowledge that they use to select their food. When that times comes, music will become a principal source of healing for many individual and social ills, and human evolution will be tremendously accelerated.” –Corrine Heline, Esoteric Music

What Type of Music is Healing?

After all this, you may ask yourself, “What type of music is healing?” When most people think about healing music they think only about music that relaxes them. While this is certainly true, it is not the only type of music that is healing. Someone who may be lethargic or depressed might feel like they could use a “musical cup of coffee.” In that case, they would want to use music that has a fast beat or perhaps a distinctive rhythm. It is important to first determine what the desired outcome is, and then choose the music that fits the desired outcome. There are some important factors to take into consideration when choosing music for healing which include: speed, rhythm, instrument selection, volume, complexity, harmony or melody, pitch and tone, and last but not least, the lyrics.Speed: Here you would focus on the number of beats per minute of the music. You can use 80 BPM (beats per minute) as a benchmark in determining speed. If you choose music with 80 BPM or less, the music will tend to induce relaxation. On the other hand, if you choose music that is more than 80 BPM you will find it is more stimulating. You can easily find the beat of a particular piece of music by using a watch or clock with a minute/second hand. Start the music and tap your fingers or feet as you feel a natural beat of the music. Once you have determined the beat, watch the clock and count until a minute has passed. This will give you a very close proximity to the BPM of the music. Some of the more meditative music, such as “New Age” may be very difficult to determine the natural beat, but you can feel pretty sure that it will be below 80 BPM. This type of un-metered music has been created for producing theta and delta brainwave states.

Rhythm: The rhythm of music is determined by the length and accent of the sounds. A good rule of thumb is that the more complex the rhythms in the music, the more stimulating affect the music will have on the listener. On the other hand, slower rhythms or constant beats will produce a hypnotic affect on the listener causing them to become more relaxed. You certainly have heard the loud booming base sounds coming from vehicles. This type of beat can be very over-stimulating to the nervous system. This booming beat coupled with the volume with which it is most often played, is not only not healing, it can actually be detrimental to your health.

Instrumentation: Instrumentation is an important part of the affect that music has on your physiology, your emotions, and your spirit. However, it is a very personal choice. All instrumentation can be healing in specific situations. And, the affect of the instruments is combined with the other factors we are listing here.

Volume: Sound waves are energy and they impact your brain with electrical pulse or pressure in the ears. The higher the volume, the more pulse/pressure, the lower the volume, the less pulse/pressure. Simply said, loud music will stimulate, soft music will relax. How soft should the music be? That will be determined by the activity or the outcome associated with the listening. If the idea of the music is for entertainment and the mental focus is on nothing else, the music can be louder. However, if the music is for relaxation, or pain relief, the music should be played softer.

Complexity: Have you been to a symphony where the orchestra is warming up. Each instrument may be playing a short piece of beautiful music, but each member may be playing a different piece. It sounds wild and frenetic and very stimulating. Your brain doesn’t know what to focus on. The brain’s job is to find order, and that is why it is so uncomfortable. The brain is reeling, trying to discern all the different sounds or instruments. Now think of a classic trio playing a guitar, flute, and cello. This is easier to listen to; you can follow one instrument or the other, or you can just take in the harmonies of all three together.

Remember this rule—the simpler the complexity of the music, the more relaxing it will be; the more complex the music is the more stimulating it will be.

Harmony: Harmony comes from two or more musical notes being played together, which sound like they go together and complement each other. A beautiful chord played on a piano or guitar is examples of harmony.

Complementary sounds or harmonies create consonance, while notes that sound like they don’t go together create dissonance. Lots of music is made of up consonance and dissonance dancing together creating tension and resolution. Another consideration is whether the music is played in either a major key or a minor key. Music that is played in a minor key is said to feel more poignant, moving or emotional. This type of music can be used for meditation or emotional healing. Remember that music from other world cultures will reflect their own scales, keys and harmonies, which may be very different that of western music.

Melody: Melody is the line in music that we find ourselves humming or singing along with. We know the tune from listening to it previously, or by hearing something similar in the past. A simple melody can be quite relaxing; however, a complex melody can be quite simulating. Music that has no definable melody known as anxiolytic music and is used in medical situations for deep relaxation and pain management. The reason that this type of music is so effective in these situations is that the brain can’t think ahead and anticipate what notes will come next in a melody that isn’t there–instead the brain tends to just disconnect it’s desire to consciously listen and it relaxes into the experience.

Pitch and Tone: The pitch and tone of instruments and voices are what distinguish a flute from a trumpet or a bass from a soprano. Music that has many variations of pitch and tone are more stimulating, while music that has a narrow range of pitch and tone will be more soothing. Music that uses a drone instrument or instruments will be very relaxing. A drone is a continuous tone that serves as a foundation for the rest of the music. Many cultures around the world use a done as an important base to their music.

Lyrics: The lyrics in music can make all the difference in whether music is healing or not. You might have a piece of music that has a slow melodic and simple melody, with the steady and gentle beat, that contains words full of hate. This music is not healing. Hateful or disrespectful lyrics are not healing. In order for a piece of music to contain healing qualities, the lyrics must be uplifting and loving words. Words can heal or they can destroy. Dr. Masaru Emoto, an alternative medicine physician in Japan, has conducted years of research on the affect of words and music on the quality of water. The implications of his research create a new awareness of how we can positively impact the earth and our own personal health by the words that we speak.

Music for Healing or Healing Music-What’s the Difference?

We’ve now learned about the many ways that music can be healing, through the tempo, the tone, the volume, the complexity, etc. About thirty years ago, a new type of music was born–healing music. You might ask what makes it different and why. The main difference is that the music was composed and performed or recorded with the specific intention of healing the listener. Again, you may ask how this could make a difference. Earlier I referred to the work of Dr. Masaru Emoto and his research on the effects of words and music on water. Dr. Emoto also did studies on the effect of words and music on cooked rice. He found that un-refrigerated rice that was prayed over and sent thoughts of love and healing stayed sweet and fresh for weeks longer than rice that was either left alone or was sent thoughts of hate and disrespect.We know in our everyday life how important our thoughts are and the words we either use to describe ourselves or the words that we use in conversation with others can be. Which situation do you feel more healing: 1) someone who puts you down all the time and criticizes you; or, 2) someone who tells you how wonderful you are and how much they love you? If you are like me, you will choose the second scenario every time over the first.

This new type of music is like that; it is created with a ‘healing intention.” Many of these musicians and composers will actually go into a meditative state when they compose or perform this music and hold a thought and vision of healing coming from the music. While this may not be able to be scientifically measured on a daily basis like Dr. Emoto’s work, the feedback from many people is clear. This type of music has a tremendously healing affect.

Which Type of Music Do We Use and How Do We Use It?

Moviemakers seem to be the experts in this arena, don’t they? And, often we are completely unaware of its effect on us. Try watching a movie that you’ve seen before with the sound off. When the story gets to a particularly scary or tense moment, turn the sound off and see if you have a similar reaction as you did the first time. Of course, since you know already know what is about to happen, it won’t be the same as if you never saw the scene before, but you will get a sense of how powerful the music was in setting the tone for the scene. If you ever saw the movie Jaws you know what I am referring to. Music can be used to intensify fear, induce laughter, create tension, or make us sad and so forth. The industry actually has a term for this type of music. It is called mood induction procedure (MIP) music.Now that you know a bit about the different factors of music, you can put conscious forethought into the music you use for yourself and others. Are you agitated by the traffic, stressed from work, sad about a relationship, worried about your health, or some other situation in your life? You can actually choose music that will take you from one mood state to another.

We referred to the ISO principle earlier, and that’s what you will apply when selecting music in these instances. You can think of the ISO principle of music selection like a train or a bus (leaving from one location, taking a journey, and arriving at another destination.) With the ISO principle you match music at the beginning of the process to the current emotional/physical state, and then gradually change the music to faster or slower, or music that is more complex or more simple, or music that is in a minor key or a major key as a way of changing mood to a more desired mood.

As an example, when you are feeling anxious, if you just put on some dreamy New Age music, your mind and emotions will probably resist, which can actually amplify the undesired mood. But, if begin the music selection with music that reflects the undesired mood (so you can identify with it) and then gently change the music, song-by-song, you will gradually find that your mood changes. Try it and see if works for you. With a little practice you will find that you can actually make music compilations that you can use therapeutically for yourself and others.

With music all around us, in our lives at work or home, try to pay more attention to what you hear and what you play. Use music as a tool to balance and manage the mind and body. Think of music as a wonderful therapeutic tool that can be very enjoyable. Music has many qualities; learn to use them to your advantage.

Music used in the appropriate way can be healing. The key is to use wisdom and listen to what our inner healer tells us about how music makes us feel. There is no one type of music that is healing music in every situation. Listen to a wide variety of musics and pay attention to how you respond with your whole being (mind, body, and spirit). The Healing Music Organization has compiled a large listing of music that can be used in various situations. You can find these listings in the discography section of their website.

By no means are these the only pieces of music that are healing, and the lists may change dramatically over time as more and more people become involved in this exciting field of health and healing. We also would like to take this opportunity to say that music should not take the place of seeking sound medical and spiritual advice about your health. On the other hand, some type of music can always be beneficial whatever the situation. Happy listening.

What Kind of Music is Healing?

Music that energizes our body

Music that stimulates our brain

Music that awakens our feelings

Music that ignites our soul

Music that relaxes our body

Music that calms our mind

Music that unwinds our emotions

Music that restores our soul

Music that motivates our actions

Music that helps us unwind

Music that wakes us up

Music that helps us sleep

Music that expands our thinking

Music that helps us not to think

References

Bruscia, K.E., Defining Music Therapy, (Spring City, PA: Spring House Books, 1989.)Beaulieu, John, Music and Sound in the Healing Arts, (New York, New York: Tallman, 1987), 115.

Campbell, Don, The Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body, Strengthen the Mind, and Unlock the Creative Spirit, (New York, NY: Avon Books, 1997) 81.

Chopra, Deepak, M.D., Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine, (Bantam Books, New York, 1989) 21.

Emoto, Masaru, The Hidden Messages of Water, (Hillsboro, Oregon: Beyond Words Publishing, 2004)

Goleman, D., & Gruin, J., Mind Body Medicine, (Yonkers, New York: Consumer Reports Books, 1993)

Keyes, Laurel E., Toning: The Creative Power of the Voice, (Marina delRey, California: Devorss and Co., 1973) 12-13.

Krippner, S., The Highest State of Consciousness, (New York: Doubleday & Co.,1972) 1-5.

Le Mee, Katherine, Chant: The Origins, Form, Practice, and Healing Power of Gregorian Chant, (New York, New York: Bell Tower, 1994)

MORE INFORMATION

In May, 1999, Amrita was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time in two years. She knew that “conventional treatment” was not the journey she wanted to take again. Amrita entered a shamanic journey into the spirit realm, trusting her own process as teacher and healer. With no handbook or physician to guide her, she entered an unknown world of intuition and trust. She followed her own spirit essence and inner knowing to an astonishing experience of eradicating the cancer within two months by using the sound of her own voice, breath, and emotional release.Amrita uses sound and music in a private and group healing practice throughout the San Francisco Bay area. She is the founder and director of The Healing Music Organization in Santa Cruz, California and is on the faculty at California Institute of Psychoacoustics in San Francisco and Vox Mundi School in Emeryville, California.

	What is Healing Music? A Closer Look


	by Amrita Cottrell

	Date Released: December, 2001
	Website: www.healingmusic.org

	Copyright, 2001-2006 Amrita Cottrell, All Rights Reserved.

Healing Vibrations

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God”. This is the ultimate basis for the power of harmonious vibration as a great healing force in the world. The Word is still a mystery but scientists are drawing closer to its reality. In a recent article in The Independent (30 April, 01) it was reported that scientists have recorded the music of creation using an instrument that can, in effect go back to the origin of creation. They have detected harmonic notes, minute ripples of sound that became the seeds of matter forming stars, galaxies and solar systems. Thus the beginning of our existence was through vibration. The very word ‘vibration’ begins with the symbol V which, when repeated, actually represents sound waves. That a fundamental vibration created our world is alluded to in Genesis where God created through his voice – “And God said, ‘Let there be light and there was light.” The simplest definition of creation is ‘movement’ but not just random movement but vast multi-layered patterns of vibration which physicists would call ‘frequencies’ or rates of vibration.

What is vibration which when made audible as in music becomes sound? It is the pull of two opposing forces in the universe for without opposites creation runs down. On the one hand is the force we call ‘stillness’ as found in meditation, for example. Yet however deep this stillness, movement can still be detected. On the other hand is the force that moves outward (as in e-motion) and desires to take action and endlessly create new things. This interplay is the source of all vibration which encompasses both the audible and inaudible worlds.

On this basis every human being is the offspring of the original Word which contains all possibilities. We are riding on the crest of this fundamental vibration and if we could feel its full impact at all times we could be fully realized persons – person = per sonare =through sound. There is a school of Indian philosophy that, in fact, states that the nature of consciousness is pulsation or throb. That is why the sound of AUM given to us by the Hindus and pronounced as OM is such a sacred vibration. It represents the beginning (Alpha) and the end (Omega) and the many (the wide open mouth of O = the universal self) and the one (the closed mouth of M = the individual self). In Latin we have OMnes meaning ‘all’ and from ‘all’ we have the sacred sounds of ALLah, ALLeluia and even ALLow.

If the universe is this finely tuned multitude of vibration frequencies, then using the principle of “as above, so below,” each of us is the same. An example of this is the propeller. When at rest we see four individual blades but when it is at full speed we see what looks to be a solid object. So to move to a higher dimension of existence is to vibrate at ever higher frequencies. This is the nature of the universe. Then the essence of sound healing is the re-tuning of the human instrument, correcting at whatever level those frequencies which have become weakened or gone out of tune. This is done on the basis of resonance, be it sympathetic vibrations or the power of forced resonance. Basically, whatever part of us that is ailing can be awakened by harmonious sound sources and remember at what frequency it should be vibrating. This can occur at the physical level (from cells to muscles to organs), the subtle level (changing negative psychology) and the causal level (create permanent positive changes in one’s nature). It is no accident that doctors tell us that we are in ‘sound health’ or ‘of sound mind.’ The medical profession is, to some extent, using sound therapy, as in the use of ultrasound to treat sciatica. At a higher level, spiritual teachers initiate people into meditation through the sound of a mantra. Here the creation of vibration works in reverse. First, there is the form (the mantra) which then it turns into a wave and finally into a pulse.

What are the practical ways of using sound for healing? Listening to music, there is no question of it’s quality of sound therapy. People’s choices of listening depend on the very nature of their sound frequencies. Music is not just something that goes into the ear. It impinges on the entire bioenergetic field (aura) and if there is incompatibility with the music it will be rejected. Singing, best done collectively, has positive transforming effects but it is not specifically directed so its effects are not particularized. Natural voice workshops are certainly on the increase as the desire for the unity of community grows.

The deeper levels of sound therapy come through primarily Eastern traditions using singing bowls, crystal bowls, tuning forks and the human voice in the form of toning, chanting and overtoning. There is also the controversial field of cymatics , pioneered in the UK by Dr P G Manners, which uses electronic sets of frequencies that correspond to different parts of the body. Of all these approaches, the most practical is the use of the voice, a marvelous instrument we have been given at birth. It was not given just for communication but also for healing. Each vowel, consonant, pitch, modulation and overtone can find its place within us. There is a secret power in language such that if all the world ceased speaking all our energy levels would sink dramatically. Naturally, in speech it is all fleeting and random as we move from syllable to syllable. Working with vowels and consonants in a conscious and deliberate way in the form of single sounds, mantras, chants and overtones (which are the vitamins and minerals of the sound) will empower them to do healing work. For example, we use the word ‘who’ quite frequently but who would ever think it was a so-called sacred sound? Yet the Sufis describe this sound spelled HUU as sacred and regularly intone it in their ceremonies. It is a name of God and a sound of purification, especially when the H breath sound is emphasized. It subtly expresses our divinity in the expression ‘Who am I? – I am HUU.

One area of vocal sound therapy taken for granted is natural, emotional sounds. When we release our emotions in sounds, by laughing, groaning, keening, sighing and humming, we are sending vibrations to particular parts of the body and also to the psyche. The greatest of these is laughter. Everyone likes and needs to laugh otherwise comedy would have no point in the world. Why is it contributing to positive health? Primarily because it consists of the spiritual H sound – the power of the breath and some sort of vowel depending on the personality of the individual. Often you can see where people experience themselves by the type of laughter. Just make a vigorous HUH sound from your belly over and over again and you should find that a burning sensation appears in the head. That is a powerful energy, one that stimulates the glands, particularly the thymus, as it rises upwards. And the medical establishment has confirmed that laughter can boost the immune system among other things.

Toning can be directed to specific organs of the body and to the chakra system itself. An effective system for the organs has been brought to the West by Mantak Chia and it employs movement with the simplest of sounds. Movement in a similar form to Tai Chi and Chi Kung is always complementary to healing vibrations because it encourages the release of the sound and can even direct it to particular places. This Taoist system uses SSSS for the lungs, WOH for the kidneys, SSHHH for the liver, HAW for the heart and WOO for the spleen, all done sub-vocally. Within the Tantra Yoga tradition is found a profound method for harmonizing the chakras through toning. Its basis is the sound of AM. In English it is the equivalent to beingness in I AM. What directs the power of this sound are the consonants of L.,V, R, Y and H for the first five chakras. Thereafter OM is intoned for the sixth and the seventh is considered to be beyond sound but not beyond vibration.

The power of the resonating voice is a gateway to opening up higher mind, the source of what is called ‘channeling.’ All creative work is channeling because the person realizes that the ideas are arising from some special source. It seems like an act of transcription, just listening and then doing. There are all sorts of negative tendencies in the mental sphere that are blocking clarity of thought and they filter down and affect the physical body. Mantras are the antidotes for this as they cut a pathway through the dark side and actually dissipate what undermines our true self and its potential. The structure (vowel/consonant combinations) and repetition of the mantra, whether intoned out loud are like the tools that polish diamonds. In this case the diamond is the soul.

Using sound as the medium for healing is within the grasp of anyone who wants to open up through the voice. There is no need to become a trained singer. It has nothing to do with a beauty of tone and everything to do with vibratory power. There are special singers whose sound is not cultivated but who lift us up with great emotion – singers like Edith Piaf and Billie Holiday. So much about healing lies in intent, that desire to transcend what limits us at every level. Vibrational medicine in whatever form is the future. Never mind mapping out all our genes. Let science find a way of determining all our frequencies. Just as the overtone patterns of the voice are unique to each person, just like fingerprints, so too are the overall frequencies. The practice of sound health is literally under our nose – in our vocal cords, etc. In the use of the secret magic of vowels and consonants, applied with intent and knowledge, we have a tremendous force for healing body, mind and spirit.

Why Must We Eat The Animals?

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You Are Wonderfully Made – Things You May Have Not Known About Your Body

These wonderful bodies of ours are the most complex organisms on earth. Needing constant care and upkeep they should have come with an owner’s manual. Unfortunately they don’t. As a teacher and raw living food nutritionist, here at Creative Health Institute, I am working with people from all walks of life and from every socioeconomic level imaginable. The one thing they all have in common is, they know very little about their bodies. Knowing our bodies and how the major systems work can make a great difference in how we perceive ourselves and how healthy we will be in the future.

Many of you who have not had the chance to attend CHI have called or written us, saying you would like to know more about your body and how it works. So to help you, we have developed a short version of the detailed Owner’s Manual, we supply guests and students, who attend our five and ten day deox/rebuild programs.

Your Brain

If you are an average adult male your brain weighs about 3 pounds, if you are a woman it will weigh a little less. The average number of neurons in the human brain is about 100 billion, packed with nerve cells your brain reaches its maximum size and potential at the age of twenty and then slowly deteriorates as cells die off thereafter. Specific parts of your brain have specific functions. For example, the back portion of your brain controls the sense of sight while the front part governs thought and personality. To keep your brain healthy, drink lots of pure water, eat living foods, exercise it regularly, feeding it a variety of different tasks – and also don’t forget to give it some time off.

Your Bones

When you were born you may have had more than 300 bones in your body by the time you reach adulthood the number of bones has decreased to around 208. Your thigh bone is the largest bone in your body. Some of the smallest are the bones in your wrist. There are 5 classifications of bones:

Long Bones — “longer than they are wide:” clavicle, humerus, radius, ulna, femur, tibia, fibula, metatarsals, metacarpals. These bones provide support and allow us to create movement.
Short Bones: carpals and tarsals: consist mainly spongy bone covered with a thin layer of compact bone. These bones also help to allow movement, provide elasticity, flexibility and work as shock absorbers.
Flat Bones: ribs, sternum and scapula. These bones are designed to protect organs and provide attachment sites for muscles.
Irregular Bones: skull, pelvis, and vertebrae. We need these bones to support our weight, protect our spinal cord, help us move more easily and to provide sites for muscle attachment.
Sesamoid Bones: are short bones embedded within a tendon or a patella. These bones alter the angle of insertion of the muscle for more fluid movement and strength.

Every bone in your body is covered with a thin, dense membrane which contains a network of nerves and blood vessels that nourish that individual bone. At the core of each bone is are two types marrow which have the consistency of a thick jelly. The red marrow, produces red blood cells (which carry oxygen), white blood cells (which fight infection), or platelets (that help stop bleeding). There is also yellow marrow, at the center, which stores fats. . The marrow has the important job of making new blood cells.

Your Heart

Located in the middle of the chest behind the breastbone, between the lungs, the heart rests in a moistened chamber called the pericardial cavity which is surrounded by the ribcage. The average human heart beats 70 times a minute. In 70 years it will beat over 2,500 MILLION times, as it pumps oxygen and nutrient rich blood to all of your body’s systems. Your body contains 8 to 10 pints of blood and in a single day your heart pumps all of you’re blood throughout your body more than 2000 times. Your heart is roughly the same size and shape as your fist. The average weight of a female human heart is 9 ounces and a male’s heart is 10.5 ounces. The apex of the heart (pointed end) points down and to the left. It is 5 inches (12 cm) long, 3.5 inches (8-9 cm) wide and 2.5 inches (6 cm) from front to back, and is roughly the size of your fist. Your heart will last longer if you incorporate raw living foods at a high level and avoid processed foods as well as cooked foods that sugars and fats. Also, keep in mind excess stress can cause your heart to malfunction and can wreck havoc with other organs in your body.

Your Intestines

The intestines are the part of the digestive system between the stomach and the anus. They are all coiled up to fit inside your abdomen. The small intestine is a tube about 21 feet if you are an adult. It is greyish-purple in color and has a diameter of about 1.25 inches. The small intestine is where most chemical digestion takes place. Most of the digestive enzymes that act in the small intestine are secreted by the pancreas and enter the small intestine via the pancreatic duct. The enzymes enter the small intestine in response to the hormone cholecystokinin, which is produced in the small intestine in response to the presence of nutrients. The hormone secretin also causes bicarbonate to be released into the small intestine from the pancreas in order to neutralize the potentially harmful acid coming from the stomach.

The large intestine is much shorter, only about 5 to 7 feet long, with a diameter averaging around 2 inches. The large intestine takes about 32 hours to finish doing its job. It does not break down food as this has already taken place in the small intestine. The large intestine absorbs water and electrolytes from the approximate chime which has been excreted from the small intestine and passes through the ileocecal valve daily. The large intestine absorbs vitamins which are created by the colonic bacteria, compacts feces and stores fecal matter in the rectum until it can be discharged via the anus. The wall of the intestines (bowel) is made up of three parts. The serosa which is very thin and is on the outside of the intestine. The intestines muscle wall which is the thickest part and is made of rings of muscles. These muscles work to squeeze the food (peristalsis) slowly along the intestine and the last is the mucosa lining which lines the insides of the intestines.

Your Kidneys

You have two kidneys – one on each side of your spine, embedded in fat. Each kidney in the average adult weighs just over one quarter of a pound. You can also estimate your kidneys weight as being about 0.5 percent of your total body weight. The kidneys are small organs by weight, but they have a big job as they receive a huge amount – twenty percent at any one time, of the blood that is pumped by your heart. Both kidneys contain a complex filtration system. All the blood in your body passes through your kidneys every few minutes so the kidneys can remove any waste substances. Your kidneys receive the blood from the renal artery, process it, return the processed blood to the body through the renal vein and remove the wastes and other unwanted substances in the urine. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the bladder. In the bladder, the urine is stored until it is excreted from the body through the urethra. If your kidneys don’t work properly wastes will accumulate and eventually produce blood poisoning. Give your kidneys a boost by drinking plenty of fresh, pure water and rejuvelac every day.

Your Liver

The liver is the largest glandular organ of the body. The average adult liver weighs about three pounds. Another way to estimate it size is as percentage of your weight, 2.5% being the most used percentage. It is reddish brown in color and is divided into four lobes of unequal size and shape and is located on your right hand side looking down – just underneath your ribs, just beneath your diaphragm. Your liver helps produce red blood cells, manufactures antibodies which fight infection, makes enzymes, stores iron, vitamins and carbohydrates, produces bile which helps digest fats and breaks down drugs and poisons into waste chemicals. Blood is carried to the liver via two large vessels called the hepatic artery and the portal vein. The heptic artery carries oxygen-rich blood from the aorta (a major vessel in the heart). The portal vein carries blood containing digested food from the small intestine. These blood vessels subdivide in the liver repeatedly, terminating in very small capillaries. Each capillary leads to a lobule. Liver tissue is composed of thousands of lobules, and each lobule is made up of hepatic cells, the basic metabolic cells of the liver. All this chemical activity produces so much heat that your liver plays an important part in keeping your body warm. Your liver love raw living food and continue to serve you faithfully as long as you don’t stress it with too much fat, sugar and/or alcohol.

Your Lungs

When you were born your lungs were small, solid and yellow. When you took your first breath your lungs expanded and turned pink and by the time you reach adulthood your lungs combined weight is around eleven pounds. Your lungs lie inside your rib cage within your chest, separated by the heart and mediastinum. The right lung is a little larger and has three lobes and the left lung two. A bronchus, an artery and a vein enter each lung . The terminal airways or bronchioles expand into small clusters of grapelike air cells, the alveoli, the average adult has more than 350,000 of them, which make up the alveolar walls. A small network of blood capillaries in the walls of the alveoli handle the exchange of gases. Deoxygenated blood from the heart is pumped through the pulmonary artery to the lungs, where oxygen is sent into the blood and is exchanged for carbon dioxide. The oxygen-rich blood returns to the heart via the pulmonary veins to be pumped back throughout your body. If you live in the country and breathe fresh air your lungs stay pink. If you smoke or live in the city your lungs gradually get darker. Take care of your lungs by eating more fruits, vegetables, sprouts and greens. Stay away from smokers and keep your stress levels down.

Your Muscles

Half your body weight is made up of muscles – there are over 600 of them. Each muscle is a separate organ controlled by its own nervous system and supplied by its own blood vessels. You have three different types of muscles in your body.

· Smooth muscles are sometimes also called involuntary muscles These muscles are controlled by your brain and body and you do not have to ever think about what they should be doing. These muscles are found throughout your bodies organs and work behind the scenes to insure your bodies systems are functioning at the highest level possible.

· Cardiac muscle is what enables your heart to contract to pump blood out and then relax to let blood back in after it has circulated through the body and been reoxygenated in the lungs. Just like smooth muscle, cardiac muscle works all by itself with no help from you. A special group of cells within the heart are known as the pacemaker of the heart because it controls the heartbeat.

· Skeletal Muscles are voluntary muscles. You are in control what they do. You can use them at will (running, lifting, kicking, punching etc) These muscles help to make up the musculoskeletal system and work with your bones to give your body power and strength. Skeletal muscles come in many different sizes and shapes to allow them to do many types of jobs. Some of your biggest and most powerful muscles are in your back, near your spine. These muscles help keep you upright and standing tall.

To keep your muscles in trim, exercise them regularly eat raw living foods and don’t forget to massage and rest them if they are sore or painful.

Your Pancreas

Tucked in between your stomach and your duodenum and connected to your small intestine at the duodenum. Producing the juices which carry hormones to vital systems and the enzymes which help digest the food you eat. Your pancreas is about 7 inches long and 1.5 inches wide. Most of the pancreatic tissue consists of grapelike clusters of cells that produce a clear fluid (pancreatic juice) that flows into the duodenum through a common duct along with bile from the liver. Pancreatic juice contains three digestive enzymes: tryptase (digests protein), amylase (digests carbohydrates) and lipase (digests fats), these along with intestinal enzymes, enable your body to assimilate the nutrients it needs to function. Within the enzyme-producing cells of the pancreas are small groups of endocrine cells, called the islets of Langerhans, that secrete two hormones, insulin and glucagon. The pancreatic islets contain several other types of hormones, as well. These two are especially important as they help us control our blood sugar levels. Insulin is secreted by the islets beta cells of the pancreas in response to high blood sugar, although a low level of insulin is always secreted by the pancreas. After a meal, the amount of insulin secreted into the blood increases as the blood glucose rises. Likewise, as blood glucose falls, insulin secretion by the pancreatic islet beta cells decreases. In response to insulin, cells (muscle, red blood cells, and fat cells) take glucose in from the blood, which ultimately lowers the high blood glucose levels back to the normal range. Glucagon is secreted by the alpha cells when blood glucose is low. Blood glucose becomes low between meals and during exercise. When blood glucose is high, no glucagon is secreted from the islets alpha cells. Glucagon has the greatest effect on the liver although it affects many different cells in the body. Glucagon’s function is to cause the liver to release stored glucose from its cells into the blood. Glucagon also the production of glucose by the liver out of building blocks obtained from other nutrients found in the body, for example, protein. To help keep your pancreas in top condition eat a diet high raw vegan diet and avoid cigarettes, excess sugar and too much alcohol.

Your Skin

The total weight of skin in an average adult human is around six pounds. Skin keeps the rest of your body neatly wrapped, protecting muscles helps control your body temperature, keeps out infection, serves as a waterproof barrier, protects delicate tissues which lay underneath it and mends itself when its ‘damaged. How does it do all this?

Your skin is made of many thin sheets of layers of cells in nerves, blood vessels, hair follicles, glands, and sensory receptors. Your skin is constantly renewing itself as older cells are constantly being pushed to the surface by new cells which grow from below. When the old ones reach the top, they fall off your body, in fact, every minute 30,000-40,000 dead skin cells fall from your body! It takes about a month for your body to make a whole new layer of skin cells. This shedding process creates around 40 pounds of dead skin cell in the average human beings lifetime the skin on your palms and the soles of your feet is one twentieth of an inch thick but the skin on your face is ten times thinner. To keep your skin in good condition moisturize it regularly and eat mostly a diet consisting of raw living foods.

MORE TO COME…

Love and Blessings,

Bobby

Help For Your Heart

Keep in mind, once a person has been started on a drug therapy, it becomes more difficult to recommend an herb therapy that might also be of assistance, largely because of fears that the herbs will interact with the drugs, disturbing the effectiveness of the drugs. Further, most physician know little about herbs and are rightfully concerned about the herb ability to interact with the drugs they are administering. If you are taking any prescribed medications, please check with you physician before incorporating these herbs into your lifestyle.

CAYENNE PEPPER

Cayenne pepper is a central circulatory stimulant. If you use cayenne on a regular basis you will improve the natural cleansing mechanism of your entire body, and this is particularly helpful in conditions of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and many other chronic illnesses. Cayenne nourishes the heart and helps arteries, veins and capillaries regain the elasticity of youth by feeding cell structure. It helps equalize circulation by regulating the flow of blood from the head to the feet and strengthens the pulse by increasing its power (not frequency) while lowering overall blood pressure.

GARLIC

Without a doubt, garlic (Allium sativa) provides the body with protection against cardiovascular sluggishness. Garlic is one of nature’s most studied and helpful herbs. Scientific trials reveal that it can lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels, raise high-density lipoprotein levels (HDL, the good cholesterol), reduce the formation of plaque in carotid arteries and provide protection against aging in the all-important aorta–the cardiac blood vessel responsible for maintaining blood flow and pressure with every heartbeat.

HAWTHORN

Hawthorn is a plant which kept Brechnev alive for ten years. The Soviets know a lot about herbal medicine. Hawthorn is a regulator of the rhythm of the heart; it increases the force of contraction so that the output of blood from the heart is improved, and it’s a restorative of the heart muscle. We can use this to protect the heart against hypertension in the case of high blood pressure.

Hawthorn also prevents the buildup of cholesterol in the liver by encouraging the breakdown of cholesterol into bile acids. When used for a long period of time (weeks or months), extracts of hawthorn dilate blood vessels, including vessels of the coronary system, giving better blood flow through the heart and throughout the body. Hawthorn also affects intracellular calcium levels in the heart muscle, resulting in improved cardiac function and lowered spastic cardiac conditions.

Essential Oils – Frankincense & Sandalwood – Place on Chakras and primary acupressure points.

Working With Flavors And Aromas

Taste is the ability to respond to dissolved molecules and ions called tastants. Humans detect taste with taste receptor cells. These are clustered together and we refer to them as taste buds. Each taste bud has a pore that opens out to the surface of the tongue enabling molecules and ions taken into the mouth to reach the receptor cells inside. There are four primary taste sensations:

1) SALTINESS Add a salty flavor to your food by using natural Celtic, Himalayan, or sea salts, but go easy on the portions. Even natural salts in large quantities are not actually that good for us. You can also use kelp, dulse, coconut aminos, Bragg’s, nama shoyu (raw soy sauce), garlic “salt,” sun-dried tomatoes, and celery. Saltiness brings out all the other flavors to balance, especially anything sweet, so adding a dash to your chocolate recipes is a good thing.

2) SWEETNESS Balances salty tasting food. At Creative Health Institute we use different natural sweeteners to create this balance. We always lean towards using products with the lowest amounts of sugar possible. There are many choices ranging from plain fruit, Stevia, Yacon, Mesquite, raw honey, agave syrup, palm sugar, dates and other dried fruits such as figs and apricots. Keep in mind that honey is not vegan, and maple syrup is not really raw. Both are better than refined sugar, however, and are packed with minerals and vitamins.

3) SOURNESS Balance salty and sweet flavors with a sour taste. A recipe containing these three flavors will provide great balance. For a sour taste use citrus juices, tamarind, cranberries, pickles, tomatoes, rejuvelac, camu camu, and vinegars. In general, if your recipe has a good balance of the 3 flavors above, it is going to taste yummy!

4) BITTERNESS Generally speaking, bitterness is not desirable in large quantities, but it so happens that bitter foods and herbs can be quite healthy. They can also be tasty in the right quantity.

OTHER ASPECTS WHICH INFLUENCING FLAVOR

A) AROMA Aromatics refer to the sense of smell, not taste, but they are closely related and influence each other. Aroma adds depth to flavors. Here are some aromatic ingredients to use in your uncooking: onions, garlic, shallots, leeks, celery, sweet peppers, ginger or galangal, citrus zest, kefir lime leaves, and lemongrass. Aromatic herbs include parsley, rosemary, thyme, oregano, mint, etc. (fresh herbs are definitely better in the raw food context!) Aromas tend to come out far more when heating food, but do indeed apply to raw food preparation. Hot peppers and such like those listed below are also aromatic.

B) SPICINESS (HEAT) Spices add a combination of the above flavors, but also add different levels of heat, if not at least a “bite.” Add dry spicy ingredients before marinating to balance the flavors better. Use oil to bring out the taste of dried herbs and spices. Items that add heat include black pepper, curries, chilies, cayenne, hot paprika, cumin, raw garlic, wasabi, cloves, turmeric, coriander, mustards, etc.

C) CREAMINESS This is more of a texture than taste, but if all the spice is getting to be too much, a little nut milk or cream can do wonders. No wonder so many hot Asian curries have coconut milk in them! • Too spicy? Add some sweetness or creaminess •

LETS FIX IT…

Too sweet? Add some sour or spiciness •

Too sour? Add sweet •

Too bland? Add salt or some spiciness •

Too salty? Add sour •

Just needs a spark? Add acid or one of the aromatics added at the end of cooking, or just a touch of heat (spiciness) •

Too harsh? Try just a touch of sweetness.

Obesity: Ten Things You Thought You Knew

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Why Has Obesity Gotten Worse Over The Years?

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Links To Friends Of Creative Health Institute

Ann Wigmore Institute – Purerto Rico – A place to learn and to heal.Ann Wigmore Foundation – New Mexico – Teaching the Living Food Lifestyle.

Creative Health Institute – Steeped in the traditions of Dr. Ann Wigmore .

Earth 911 – Enter your zip code to locate your nearest recycling or hazardous waste collection center.

EarthSave – International organization that educates about the powerful effects our food choices have on the environment, our health and all of life on earth. Encourages shift toward a low-fat, plant-based diet.

The Fresh Network – International raw and living foods organization based in the UK. Great information.

Gentle World – Non-profit educational organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of life by educating the public as to the health, environmental and spiritual benefits of a plant-based and sustainable lifestyle.

Green People – The world’s largest searchable database of eco-friendly products and services.

Happy Cow’s Global Guide – Vegetarian restaurant guide, providing vegetarians around the world with vegetarian and vegan restaurant and health food store locations.

Harmonious Living – The spirit of Harmonious Living is in deepening our intuitive knowing through conscious lifestyle choices. Offers sincere, caring support to those choosing to Live Life Alive.

Meat Free Zone – Campaign to convey the message of health and compassion for all humans, the environment and animals via establishing “meat free zones” in individual homes, restaurants, food stores, picnic areas and other places of business.

Movement For Compassionate Living – Promotes sustainable lifestyles, vegan organic food production, and tree culture instead of animal farming.

Not Milk– The Notmilkman is a big fan of Ann Wigmore’s work and grows his own wheatgrass. His website is the final word that milk does not do the body any good.

Raw Family – The Boutenko family has been raw for over 8 years!

The Raw Gourmet – Information about raw food preparation and living foods. Great recipe book. Offers various kitchen tools, phone consultations and more.

Remineralize The Earth – Non-profit organization incorporated to disseminate ideas and practice about soil remineralization throughout the world.

SoyStache – A not-for-profit project promoting a plant-based diet.

The Sprout House – Seeds and sprouting tools for all your sprouting needs.

Voice Yourself – A website that believes all life on earth is sacred. Voice Yourself promotes and inspires individual action to create global momentum towards simple organic living and to restore balance and harmony to our planet.

“Wildman” Steve Brill – Learn about edible and medicinal wild plants and mushrooms, nature and ecology with New York’s best-known naturalist.

Ann Wigmore Natural Health Institute. From their site: “The Ann Wigmore Natural Health Institute carries on the work of the late Dr. Ann Wigmore, a pioneer in the use of wheatgrass juice and living foods for detoxifying and healing the body, mind, and spirit. Founded in 1990, the Institute was a spiritual oasis for Dr. Ann. She visited monthly and wrote most of her last books here. Visit us on the West coast of tropical Puerto Rico for Living Foods Lifestyle educational programs and retreats.”

Clayton College Of Natural Health. With more than 25,000 students and graduates, Clayton College of Natural Health is the world’s leading college of natural health, traditional naturopathy and holistic nutrition. The National Association of Nutrition Professionals (NANP) has approved graduates of the CCNH Master of Science in Holistic Nutrition and the Doctor of Philosophy in Holistic Nutrition programs for eligibility to apply for a national board credentialing.

Creative Health Institute. From their site: “What you get at Creative Health: “Whether you are suffering from Cancer, Diabetes, Heart disease, or nearly any other ailment, or, you are healthy, and wish to stay that way, our program will provide you the tools to help your body heal itself, naturally!” Creative Health Institute, also provide raw living food chef certifications I-III as well as the certification in Alissa Cohens raw chef I &II. The international intern program is designed to train students to teach natural nutrition. Steeped in the traditional holistic health teaching of Dr. Ann Wigmore, the institute is open 365 days a year.

GilChrist offers individual (self-guided) and small group retreats and workshops that support contemplative practice. Staff offers weekly spiritual practices for interested participants at no charge at GilChrist’s common house, WindHill. Other occasionally scheduled community events will be posted on this Web site. GilChrist staff is available for conversation anytime regarding your retreat experience.

Flowering Lotus Meditation And Retreat Center

Providing an environment and a variety of opportunities for meditation, spiritual practice, and fellowship in order to nurture peace, healing, diversity, understanding, and connection for individuals, their families, and the greater society. Our practice follows the teachings of the historical Buddha, including the insight that all beings have the potential for awakening. We welcome people of all backgrounds and spiritual paths to practice with us in the pursuit of peace and healing.

Hippocrates Health Institute. From their site: Deemed the world’s number one teaching institute in the year 2000 by Spa Management Group, this historic and thriving center was founded by visionary and humanitarian Ann Wigmore and is currently under the leadership of Drs. Brian and Anna Maria Clement. For a half of a century, the Institute has taught generations how to access the power from their vast inner resources to transform the quality of their lives.

Living Foods Institute. From their site: “The Living Foods Institute is an educational training center devoted to teaching people how to restore their health through detoxification and good nutrition. Our mission is to “Heal the World, One Person at a Time.””

Living Light Culinary Arts Institute. Offers classes in raw vegan cuisine.

Optimum Health Institute. From their site: The OHI program consists of three week-long sessions teaching ancient spiritual disciplines that promote healing. Participants learn to purify and detoxify the body with diet, fasting, cleansing and exercise; quiet the mind with journeling and meditation; and strengthen the spirit with study, prayer and celebration. In a safe and sacred environment promoting faith, love and hope, people experience Gods presence in the healing of themselves and others.

Solitary Spiritual Retreat Centers -United States This listing of retreat facilities will help you find a place of solitude to spend quiet time in reflection. Places offering only communal meals are included, and noted as such, for consideration of those doing fasting retreats. Places with shared kitchen facilities are included and noted as such. Facilities requiring previous instruction, active guidance or a particular belief-system are not included.

Tree Of Life Rejuvenation Center From their site: The Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center is known worldwide for its foundation in spirituality and living foods, and as a leading fasting and detoxification center, offering a diversity of spa vacations, spiritual retreats and spiritual and health education programs. Founded in 1993 by Rebbe Gabriel Cousens, M.D., M.D.(H), Diplomate of the American Board of Holistic Medicine.

Trinity College Of Natural Health. Trinity College of Natural Health, Inc. is a non-profit, non-denominational, Christian educational institution organized for the purpose of offering professional programs of study in natural health. Natural health involves the integration of the mind, body and spirit in order to produce a life lived in harmony with the Creator and His divine plan for His creation. Educational programs lead to such nontraditional designations as Master Herbalist (M.H.), Certificate in Nutritional Counseling

Because Of Demand Additional Classes Added For 2010 – Raw Chef I, September 24th-26th and Raw Chef II, October 1st -3rd

Please Check Out The New 2011 Schedule – Raw Chef I –

Starts On January 11th, 2011

CHI Raw Chef I: Foundations – Last Level I For 2010

This introductory class helps you build a foundation in preparation of raw gourmet foods. We introduce to you Dr. Ann Wigmore’s raw living lifestyle and then demonstrate how to prepare raw 5-star gourmet dishes. This class is perfect for those who want to introduce friends and family to a raw lifestyle and for students that are interested in working as a raw gourmet chef. Enjoy a 16 hour intensive classroom training, 3 days & 2 nights. Space is limited and classes fill quickly. Register now call 888.221.6623. Testimonials

CHI Raw Chef II: Teacher – Last Level II For 2010

In Raw Chef Level II we step up the training with getting a hand on experience with the raw gourmet dishes. By the end of the course you will be able to teach the level one chef certification to others. Here students are broken up into teams to make raw gourmet dishes. This is a time for you and your team to get your creative juices flowing as we tell you to go off the recipe and test out your own secret ingredients. Step forward and build a raw, living food consulting practice in your community and bring the healing power of our program to others with this 20 hour intensive classroom training, 3 days & 2 nights.

Come for Raw Chef I, stay over for a 5 day detox/rebuild then attend Raw Chef II. Call for Special Discounts that will save you $100.00 off of this great package.

Blessings,

Bobby

Millions Die Due to Withheld Medical Treatment

This post is by Dr. Mark Hyman, MD.
Dr. Hyman’s insight into the world of conventional medicine and how it affects our lives is amazing. I hope you will take the time to read all of it. Wishing you the greatest of health and blessings.
Bobby
Imagine we found the cure for heart disease or diabetes, but as a society chose to withhold that treatment from those who need it most. Would it be ethical to withhold effective treatments when the result is unnecessary suffering and death that costs our health care system hundreds of billions of dollars a year?

The answer is obvious, yet that is exactly what occurs today in America. We know the most effective treatments for some of the deadliest diseases of our time, but millions are denied access to them. In effect, we are conducting a large experiment on our population without their consent. This happened in America once before. It is a dark stain on our scientific history that most of us would rather forget. It was the Tuskegee experiment.

Tuskegee: Human Experimentation Without Consent

From 1932 to 1972 scientists from the US Public Health Service conducted the Tuskegee syphilis study on 399 impoverished African American sharecroppers from Tuskegee, Alabama without their consent. They withheld a known effective treatment for syphilis–namely penicillin–in order to observe what happened over time to those with untreated syphilis. Scientists wondered how the disease affected the body and mind, so they drew blood from these men and monitored their progress but did nothing to stop the progression of the illness even though they knew they could cure it and prevent horrid disability with a few simple shots of penicillin.

Right now we are in the midst of a similar experiment, but few know about it. The tragedy of this experiment happened in my own family. My stepfather, who had diabetes and heart disease, was a victim of our modern Tuskegee experiment. He ultimately died last year as a result, and cost our health care system $400,000 along the way. If he were simply provided the choice of a different treatment–a treatment that is proven to be more effective and cost less than medication and surgery–namely a program for sustainable and comprehensive lifestyle change, perhaps he would still be alive and our national debt would be reduced by $400,000.

My stepfather was diabetic. He had the best medical, pharmaceutical, and surgical care available. Nonetheless, he suffered from very poor health and functioning. He went to the emergency room with chest pain and was treated with a cardiac bypass operation, even though evidence has shown no reduced mortality for cardiac bypass or angioplasty in diabetics.(i) Not providing effective treatment is one thing, but providing harmful, costly, and ineffective treatment like this is unethical.

Physicians do what they know (often as a result of training in a medical educational system dominated by Big Pharma) and what is paid for by insurance. Having a cardiac bypass after experiencing chest pain isn’t the best treatment option for diabetics, but it is what is paid for by insurance. After the bypass post-operative infection of his sternum with MRSA (an antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria) lead to a month in the intensive care unit, plastic surgery to repair the chest defect, and “mini-strokes” following bypass surgery which led to memory loss or “pre-dementia”,(ii) and a protracted recovery from hospitalization requiring months of home care.

The surgery and subsequent medical therapy with blood pressure medication, cholesterol-lowering medication, and blood thinners did not enhance the quality of his health and life. In fact, he continued to be sedentary, craved sugars and refined carbohydrates, and rapidly declined physically and mentally.

My stepfather was not offered a treatment that exists today, would have cost less than 2 percent of the $400,000 his care cost, and would have likely created an infinitely enhanced quality of life. It should be our right to have access to proven treatments that provide better value for the individual and for the health care system. This shift must be made if we are going to significantly impact our chronic disease epidemic and the frightening convergence of the GDP and health care cost curves.

How is our modern Tuskegee experiment happening today? How did this happen to my stepfather? What treatment was he denied that may have saved his life? Let me explain.

Treatments We are Denied by Conventional Medicine

Overwhelming evidence proves that the most effective prevention and treatment for chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes is what we eat, how much we exercise, how we handle stress, and our social connections. These factors are often referred to collectively as “lifestyle medicine.” Environmental toxins are also known to play a role in these epidemics but are less modifiable.

Lifestyle medicine is not just about preventing chronic diseases but also about treating them. It is often more effective and less expensive than relying exclusively on drugs and surgery. Nearly all the major medical societies recently joined in publishing a review of the scientific evidence for lifestyle medicine both for the prevention and TREATMENT of chronic disease. That report is called the ACPM Lifestyle Initiative, and I encourage you to read it. It concluded there is strong evidence that a lifestyle-based approach to chronic disease often works better than medication or surgery and saves money.

Taken collectively, the evidence is actually overwhelming. Lifestyle intervention is often more effective in reducing cardiovascular disease, hypertension, heart failure, stroke, cancer, diabetes and all cause mortality than almost any other medical intervention.(iii) This data in conjunction with a number of extraordinary recent research papers that call into question the very foundations of our current approach–treating risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or high blood sugar to prevent heart disease and diabetes–forces us to rethink our whole approach to medicine. These studies showed that lowering blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol in pre-diabetics with medication didn’t reduce the risk of heart attacks or death and created unnecessary side effects.(iv),(v),(vi),(vii)

We’re targeting the wrong things–we need to treat the cause, not the effects. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar are NOT the cause of heart disease or diabetes. The real culprit is what we eat, how much we exercise, stress, and environmental toxins. Our lifestyle and environment influences the fundamental biological mechanisms that lead to disease: Changes in gene expression, which modulate inflammation, oxidative stress, and metabolic dysfunction. Treating risk factors is like blowing away the smoke while the fire rages on. Lifestyle medicine puts out the fire.

Unfortunately, insurance doesn’t usually pay for it. No one profits from lifestyle medicine, so it is not part of medical education or practice. It should be the foundation of our health care system, but doctors ignore it because doctors do what they get paid to do. They get paid to dispense medication and perform surgery. They also need to be paid to develop and conduct practice-based and community programs in sustainable lifestyle change such as those pioneered by Dr. Dean Ornish.

The new health care bill provides for community based wellness initiatives like these, and that’s a step in the right direction. The National Council on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health has begun to develop policies that will create a healthier nation. But what’s missing is insurance and Medicare reimbursement for treatments known to be effective for heart disease and diabetes–lifestyle-based therapies that are critical not just for prevention but also for the treatment and reversal of these modern epidemics. By not offering reimbursement for these treatments we have, in effect, begun the Tuskegee experiment of the 21st century.

The future of medical care must be to transform general lifestyle guidance–the mandates to eat a healthy diet and get regular exercise that many physicians try to provide to their patients–into individually-tailored lifestyle prescriptions for both the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. The only way this is going to happen is if doctors are paid to do it. Lifestyle is often the best medicine when applied correctly, and it is the only thing that will end our modern Tuskegee experiment.

To your good health,

Mark Hyman, MD

References

(i) BARI 2D Study Group, Frye R.L., August P., Brooks M.M. et al. 2009. A randomized trial of therapies for type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease. N Engl J Med. 360(24): 2503-15.

(ii) Neurological Outcome Research Group and the Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Research Endeavors Investigators, Newman M.F., Kirchner J.L., Phillips-Bute B.,et al. 2001, Longitudinal assessment of neurocognitive function after coronary-artery bypass surgery. N Engl J Med. 344(6): 395-402.

(iii) http://www.acpm.org/LifestyleMedicine.htm

(iv) The ACCORD Study Group. 2010. Effects of intensive blood-pressure control in type 2 diabetes mellitus. N Engl J Med. 362(17): 1575-1585.

(v) The NAVIGATOR Study Group. 2010. Effect of nateglinide on the incidence of diabetes and cardiovascular events. N Engl J Med. 362(16): 1463-1476.

(vi) The NAVIGATOR Study Group. 2010. Effect of valsartan on the incidence of diabetes and cardiovascular events. N Engl J Med. 362(16): 1477-1490.

(vii) Ray K.K., Seshasai S.R., Wijesuriya S, et al. 2009. Effect of intensive control of glucose on cardiovascular outcomes and death in patients with diabetes mellitus: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Lancet. 373(9677): 1765-72.

Mark Hyman, M.D. is a practicing physician, founder of The UltraWellness Center, a four-time New York Times bestselling author, and an international leader in the field of Functional Medicine. You can follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, watch his videos on YouTube, become a fan on Facebook, and subscribe to his newsletter.

Please Help Us To Continue To Help Others – Donation List

We are continuing to expand our programs, services and classes. During 2010, we began our 90 day intern program, as well as more than a dozen new programs and classes, which have enabled us to raise the level of love, care and support for our guests. In order for us to continue to provide the healing space and environment needed for our guests, we need more supplies and equipment.

Many of you have been blessed by your time at Creative Health Institute and have already contacted us wanting to make monetary or equipment donations to help us. In response to your interest, we have created a donation suggestion list which gives you the approximate cost of each item we need. You can simply make a monetary donation and leave it to our discretion as to how to apply the money, or you can select a piece of equipment or specific supplies and donate the money for those items or make a local purchase and ship the item(s) you have selected to us.

This is a wonderful way to not only give back to the place that may have helped you on your healing journey. Your donation will bless all the guests, students and interns who come to the institute in the future. Remember, we are a 501(c) 3 – non-profit, much like your church or any other not for profit institution and we depend on help from our friends. Of course, all donations are tax deductible.

As a donor, you may like to have your name engraved on a wall plaque which will be displayed in the Lonnie Ava Sun Room. Please let us know if you would like to have your name displayed and we will make sure you are acknowledged on our 2010 Donor Plaque.

Donations:

Monetary donations of any size are greatly appreciated. Our scholarship fund is very low after the summer months. When you make any donation, please indicate if any part of it should be put towards a scholarship, for those in need.

Please contact our offices at 866.426.1213, if you are going to donate by credit card. If you are donating by check, indicate on the check where you would like your donation to be applied. Please do not send cash as we may not be able to track it properly. We also are happy to receive used items which can fill our needs.

All of us here at CHI are so thankful for your support, as it has been the support of people like yourself that has enabled us to serve the needs of our guests for more than 37 years. We are so grateful for all our friends who have been a part of our mission!

Equipment and Supplies Needed For:

Kitchen & Center

6 – Vita Mix CIA professional blenders — $489.00 ea – Amazon
2 – GreenStar juicers — $459.00 ea – Amazon
2 – Commercial Champion juicers – 236.00 ea. – Amazon
6 – 3900 Deluxe Excalibur dehydrators — $250.00 ea – Amazon
Misc – Kitchen supplies for food prep stations — $500.00
25 – Excalibur Parflexx non-stick reusable drying sheets – Amazon
4 – Commercial food processors — $335.00 ea – Amazon
6 – spiral tri blade slicers — $36.00 ea – Amazon
25 – Nut milk bags $11.89 ea – Amazon
25- Aprons – $10.00 ea – Amazon
1 – Dishwasher & Sterilizer – $11,000.00
2 – Sanitarie SC6090 Commercial Carpet Cleaners – $1,440.27 – Amazon
4- Royal RY6100 Commercial Vacuum Cleaner – $349.95 – Amazon

Therapy Room

1- Massage table — $1400.00
1- One Touch portable massage table $159.99 – Amazon
2 – Dotolo Colonic Machines — $5600.00
2 – Hot water tanks for colonic machines — $950.00 ea
2 – Ionic Detox foot bath X2 — $325.00 ea – Amazon
2 – Ionic Detox foot baths – 135.00 ea – Amazon
2 – Iron Man Infar Red Saunas – $900 ea – Amazon
1 – 8 person Jacuzzi $3900 – Including Local Installation
1 – Low Level Laser Med Light — $4355.00 – Amazon
1 – Labomed Digizoom Digital Zoom Microscope $1548.00 – Amazon

Exercise Room

3 – 308 DL Chi machines — $259.99 ea – Amazon
10 – Rebounders – $200.00 ea
1 – New lighting System – 275.00
1 – Mp3 Music System – $199.00

Offices / Training Great Room

4 – Desk Top Computers With Monitors – $500.00 ea
Software – Office & ACT – $1000
2 – copy machines — $300.00 ea
1- Phone system — $2000.00
Shipping scales — $75.00
4 – Filing cabinets — $49.00 ea
25- chairs for training room — $159.00 ea
25 – trash cans — $5.00 ea
2- sofas — $450.00 ea
Store shelving – $500.00
6 – folding tables – 39.00 ea
6 – Small coffee tables – $50.00 ea
Sound System for Entire Center – $1200.00

Guest Bedrooms

25 Dr. Heater low energy space heaters – $239.00 ea – Amazon
20 twin mattress’s – $99.00 ea
10 bunk beds – $150.00 ea
25 queen mattess’s sets – $229.00
25 queen matress pads – $39.00 ea
25 natural organic Comforters- Queen Size – $199.00 ea
25 natural organic blankets – $59.00 ea
25 sets of natural organic queen size sheet sets- $79.00 ea
100 bath towel sests – $10.00 ea
25 lamp shades – $15.00 ea

Guest Bathrooms

25 wall mirrors – $15.00 ea
25 soap dispensers – $5.00 ea
25 paper towel holders – $5.00 ea
25 enema foot stools – $5.00
50 foot basins – $5.00 ea
50 small disinfectant spray bottles – $1.00 ea
100 colored standard sized enema towels – $3.00

Misc.

Greenhouse – $3.500.00
Chain Saw – Husqvarna 235E Gas-Powered Chain Saw- $229.00 – Amazon
Log Spliter – $350.00
Axe – $39.00
Used Pic-up truck with snow plow and farm tailer – $4000.00

Pictures From Our Raw Chef Class – Sept 3-5, 2010

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Chef Class Testimonials

September 5, 2010

My participation at Raw Chef I this weekend was a most wonderful experience. Since I have started on my new journey embracing the “Raw Foods” lifestyle, I have introduced to a naturally healthy way of life. The foods that have been presented are “amazing!” My transition to this way of eating will not be the challenge I anticipated. Everything from the guacamole to the garden burgers are a very welcomed taste! I have been well educated and equipped with the tools to integrate the lifestyle smoothly. Thank you Bobby and CHI staff for your love, patience, and knowledge. ~ C.B.

As usual, CHI is a fabulous place for healing. Magnificent staff and there are always huge benefits to a visit... a great weekend, beautiful learning in a wonderful place. ~ K. S.

The Raw Chef I class has been a tremendous blessing to me and will be to my family and friends, they’re all very excited! My husband and kids have been asking a lot of questions and everybody wants a demonstration. What really love about this class is how simple it is. I really hope to stress this point when I do a demonstration. Raw food is simple and tastes great! I love art and food! Raw food is beautiful – all of the bright colors make it so easy for a simple and beautiful presentation! I love it! ~ Annie

I enjoyed the classes. The food was wonderful, the staff just great.~ M.D.

I enjoyed the Raw Chef I experience immensely! It was fun! The food was delicious. I loved the welcoming buffet! It was a bit of a shock to see how entertaining in the raw could be so delightful to friends and families who aren’t “raw.” The chocolate frosting – the macaroons -the pizza – the amazing hot fudge banana sundaes! All excruciatingly delicious. I was constantly surprised at how scrumptious and easy the recipes are to make. In addition, we were educated by the knowledgeable Bobby who humorously spiced up the demonstrations with experiences from his personal journey through the raw living food world and who helped us to understand the nutrient content of the foods we prepared and how they could play a role in our healing and leading energetic, purposeful lives! ~ J.V.

It was great the way everyone was included in the preparation of the food and the appreciation of those who were unable to participate.

The Raw Chef I class is going to prepare me for raw living and I can only say, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” The tools I am taking home from this course leave me with no room for excuses! I am anxious to share these recipes with my friends and family knowing that I will have a part in improving their health with yummy “live” foods. Of course I will be looking for ways to attend Raw Chef II very soon! ~ V.S.

I love you! You are the best! Raw food Chef I opened my eyes to eating in a manner that zaps the stress! No more counting calories, now more diet craziness – I can eat like a queen and keep my self-esteem. The food like garden burgers and zucchini spaghetti have my heart all a flutter! Thank, thank you, thank you – for I am truly grateful! (P.S. I love the love that emanates [here] you have shown me it’s not too late! ~ I.R.W.

I love the Chef I course. I’m learning the nuances which prove beneficial! The class is fun. The chefs are fun and funny. I’m learning to make seed cheese, spaghetti zucchini, granola, pancakes, almond milk, butter, syrup, ketchup, mustard, mayo, burgers, stuffed mushrooms and many more [dishes]. I’m eating living foods to live and the tastes are spectacular. I love informal (and professional) training. We received professional training in a loving atmosphere. I would like to participate in Chef II and Chef III courses! ~ D.C.

To be exposed to such great flavors, textures, smells, and beautifully presented dishes makes my mouth ready and salivating for the next eating adventure in the raw food world. I can’t get enough and this class only whets the appetite. There is more to come and oh, what a healthy adventure this will be. ~ M.M.

This has been an incredible experience. What we have learned here, from foods and nutrition to alternative therapies for cancer, diabetes and other disease processes, is all evidence based. I will be returning for more education and healing. ~ A.B.

It’s been an amazing experience! I have learned to much and really want to come back for detox…I am really excited to improve my health. Everyone here has been so loving and supportive and I knew I was meant to be here and I cannot wait to come back. In fact, I really don’t want to leave. I knew driving here in such a rush that I was meeting my new family. (P.S. I learned my lesson about wheatgrass and it was most excellent!) Lots of love and infinite blessings! ~ G.C.

I’ve only been here for one day and I have noticed a feeling of well being [that]everyone exhibits. The demos are informative and seeing things prepared helps us with texture. Showing knife skills and kitchen short cuts helps those with no experience in cooking or kitchen experience.

The raw chef course introduced me to the tasty, gourmet aspect of living foods. During the 10 day detox, I learned how to sprout, make rejuvelac, and energy soup. For a number of days I only ate energy soup and drank rejuvelac. On the days when I ate something more, it was mainly salads and variations on salad. It was edible. It was good for me. Then came the Raw Chef experience! The first meal we had was a gazpacho soup and I couldn’t believe how good it was, we continued with other delicious meals, e.g. zucchini pasta with marinara sauce, garden burgers and to my delight, the best chocolate cake! I was especially gratified to learn that chocolate consumption was encouraged because of the high antioxidant content of cocoa. All in all, the meals were delicious and my appreciation for raw living food was revolutionized.

The food was so good and so healthy that the possibility of actually eating this way became realistic. The course included numerous demonstrations that I found very instructive and it gave me the feeling that preparation could be done without difficulty. I gained an understanding of the implements that are used to prepare these meals. Overall, I’m quite happy to be exposed to this knowledge and to know that it’s accessible to me – thanks. ~ JR

This chef I class has been a wonderful start for my new future with raw food. I needed this class for new ideas and to help me to be able to feed my family and friends with new food choices and fresh ideas. Being here at CHI has really opened my eyes, my mind, and spiritual path. I’ve felt so much love, peace, and joy since I’ve been here and I look forward to coming back for many years to grow even more and to help when ever I can. Thank so much for being here for me and my family. ~ D.C.

This has been an amazing weekend. I have met some awesome people and have learned some wonderful recipes. I am now able to take this information back to my area and share it with as many people as I possibly can. I have also had the opportunity to learn from others and grow as a person in every area of my life.

The smoked pepper cheese log was AWESOME! It joined with the crecker to beat down the hunger as a crime-fighting duo and also managed to find the time to party with the taste buds of your mouth until they experienced pure untainted happiness! CHI is full of kind people trying to achieve a comon goal. In the short time I’ve spent here it has become evident to me that the support system here is strong and it is what creates a strong foundation for people to embark on their raw food journey. This place really helps people. My little eleven-year-old sister is a type one diabetic who was taking between 5 and 6 units of Lantis a night. After staying here she has gone down to taking zero units! Miraculous events happen here. People come here to walk on the road of recovery so they can step closer and closer to a cure. CHI has filled my family with hope after traditional doctors tried tirelessly to take it away. I have seen the change in my sister’s face. I see her radiating an aura of health. I know she is constantly progressing and I believe CHI can use their magic to completely cure her.

I have enjoyed learning the different dishes that can be made using all natural ingredients. I do believe that there is a market to be developed in this country to show us all that we don’t have to go with the “norm.” That those things we feel we must give up to stay healthy with out food intake can be made a different way and be made the way nature intended for it to be [consumed]. I truly believe this is the way we as Americans should live. ~ J.B.C.

If you never ever plan to incorporate 100% raw and living foods or even a small percentage at first, you still have to treat yourself to a little heven on earth – CHI’s raw, living foods Chef I certification weekend. Not only do you get a chance to meet like-minded people on the road to health, but you will get an opportunity to experience a large array of every day and gourmet recipes. This is truly a loving journey to do “Dessert Research” as you feed your heart and soul with banana splits (frozen bananas), walnut-date balls, coconut macaroons and “too good” chocolate balls dipped in chocolate fudge. To eat this dessert is to make a decision to live forever. But don’t forget to learn how to make the best lunch this side of heaven – garden burgers with mustard, ketchup, and mayo, and kale chips. Now you are on your way. Love yourself and eat well! ~ B.B.

Bobby Say’s Two Ounces Of Almonds Contain More Protein Than A Typical Egg

Almond Nutrients

Nutrient	Amount	DV (%)	Nutrient Density	World’s Healthiest Foods Rating
Manganese-	0.90 mg	45.0	3.9	very good
vitamin E	8.97 mg	44.9	3.9	very good
magnesium	98.67 mg	24.7	2.2	good
tryptophan	0.07 g	21.9	1.9	good
copper	0.40 mg	20.0	1.7	good
vitamin B2 (riboflavin)	0.30 mg	17.6	1.5	good
phosphorus	168.70 mg	16.9	1.5	good

Osteoporosis Drugs May Boost Cancer Risk

People who take bisphosphonates, or bone-strengthening drugs for osteoporosis, may have a slightly higher risk of developing esophageal cancer, especially if they take them for several years, a study this week in the British Journal of Medicine finds. Researchers tracked almost 3,000 people with cancer of the esophagus or throat for eight years and compared them with a group of 15,000 people who did not have the disease. All were over age 40. The scientists found that 90 of the cancer patients had been prescribed the bone-building drugs, while 345 people in the larger group were taking the medication. By figuring the odds, scientists estimated the risk of esophageal cancer increased with 10 or more prescriptions for oral bisphosphonates or with prescriptions over a five-year period. According to the study, in Europe and North America, the incidence of esophageal cancer in people ages 60-79 is typically one per every 1,000 over five years. This study estimated an increase of two per 1,000 in this age group, if the drugs were used for five years or more. The researchers also looked at about 10,000 people with bowel cancer and 2,000 others with stomach cancer and found no increased risk with the use of these drugs. Experts aren’t sure why the drugs might lead to throat cancer. They do know however, that bisphosphonates can cause inflammation in the esophagus, which could cause cancer to develop more easily.

Blanced pH A Vital Part Of Whole Body Health

Right Balance
At the first mention of acidity and alkalinity, eyes glaze over. After all, these terms sound somewhat scientific, and vague memories of junior high science class and litmus paper changing color may come to mind. However, the balance between acidity and alkalinity, and its importance, can be explained quite simply and should be explained. This balance is essential to good health.

The Basics

Every solution is either acidic or alkaline. (Alkaline is often called “base.”) These solutions can be anything from body fluids, such as stomach acid and blood, to beverages, such as wine or coffee, to sea water. Acidity and alkalinity are measured in pH (potential of hydrogen). The pH scale goes from 0 to 14, with 0 the most acidic, and 14 the most alkaline. The pH of stomach acid is 1, wine is 3.5, water is 7 (neutral), venous blood is 7.35, arterial blood is 7.4, sea water is 8.5, and baking soda is 12. Ideally, our pH should stay on the alkaline side: between 7.35 and 7.45.

Keeping our acidity and alkalinity balanced means regulating the hydrogen ion concentration in our body fluids. An acid is a molecule or ion (an ion is an atom that carries a positive or negative electric charge) that can contribute a hydrogen ion to a solution. An alkalizing substance is one that contains a molecule or ion that combines with hydrogen ions to remove them from a solution_it neutralizes acids and acts as a buffer.

The Misconceptions

Foods are classified as acid-forming or alkalizing depending on the effect they have on the body. An acid-forming food contributes hydrogen ions to the body, making it more acidic. An alkalizing food removes hydrogen ions from the body, making it more alkaline. It is important to note that this classification is based on the effect foods have on the body after digestion, not on their own intrinsic acidity or alkalinity (or how they taste to us). A common misconception is that if a food tastes acidic, it has an acid-forming effect on the body. This is not necessarily true. Very often, an acidic-tasting food is alkalizing. Citric fruits are a good example. People say that lemons, for example, are “too acidic”; however, they are actually alkalizing because the minerals they leave behind after digestion help remove hydrogen ions, decreasing the acidity of the body. (Many people use the term “residue” or “ash” to explain the effect of a food on the body. A food with an acid ash after digestion contributes hydrogen ions, making the body more acidic; a food with an alkaline ash after digestion removes hydrogen ions, making the body more alkaline.)

Another misconception is that acid-forming foods are “bad.” This is not correct; acidity and alkalinity are opposites and one is not intrinsically better than the other. This misconception has developed because the North American diet is excessively acidic, which does result in health problems.

Common acid-forming foods include processed junk foods and those that are high in animal protein. Some common alkalizing foods are spinach, soybeans, raisins, carrots, and most citrus fruits.

The Problem

Looking at this short list of acid-forming and alkalizing foods, you can see where the problem lies. North Americans eat considerably more acid-forming foods than alkalizing foods. Unfortunately, too much acid can cause health problems. According to well-known naturopath Paavo Airola in his book “How to Get Well”, Acidosis, or over-acidity in the body tissues, is one of the basic causes of diseases, especially the arthritic and rheumatic diseases.”

Others concur with Airola. Speaking of the acidity of a high-fat, high-sugar diet, Michael Colgan, in The New Nutrition, says, “Acidosis destroys bones, because the body has to steal alkalizing minerals from them, to keep the blood pH from dropping into the acid range _ ” Dr. Mary Ruth Swope, in Green Leaves of Barley, comments, “We have become too full of acid and, as a result, are experiencing a wide range of diseases that flourish in the acid medium.” Dr. Yoshihide Hagiwara, in Green Barley Essence, mentions that, “Should this balance [acid and alkaline] be upset, the cell metabolism suffers, leading to conditions such as fatigue.”

Common symptoms of an unbalanced pH include heartburn (a burning sensation in the stomach and acid-tasting burps), bloating, belching, and feeling full after eating small amounts of food. Other symptoms could include insomnia, water retention, migraines, constipation with diarrhea, fatigue, a burning sensation on the tongue and in the mouth, and halitosis.

The Solution

Eat a diet that helps your body maintain the correct acidity-alkalinity balance. According to Airola, the ideal diet should have a natural ratio of four parts alkaline to one part acid. Others contend that while this a good ratio for active people (exercise creates a lot of acid), less active people can handle a diet with a ratio of two parts alkaline to one part acid.

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Some herbs which may lower blood pressure include:

Some herbs that may increase blood pressure include:

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Fight Cancer:

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MORE INFORMATION

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Your Brain

Your Bones

Your Heart

Your Intestines

Your Kidneys

Your Liver

Your Lungs

Your Muscles

Your Pancreas

Your Skin

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Please Check Out The New 2011 Schedule – Raw Chef I –

Starts On January 11th, 2011

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The Basics

The Misconceptions

The Problem

The Solution

Further Reading

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