My Experience with Meditation
With my degree in biology, and now in possession of my first job, in Rockville, MD, I was repairing scientific equipment used in medical and biological research. My new boss asked one afternoon “Would you like to go rock climbing?” I had been enchanted with climbing since I was a kid and having grown up in Kansas had no opportunity. Now, living in the DC area there was opportunity! YES! I replied. The following Saturday morning I found myself at Carderock, by the Potomac river, close to the David W. Taylor Naval Research facility, standing at the base of a vertical piece of rock, not that high, maybe forty feet. We were doing what is called “top roping”, rigging a fixed point at the top of the cliff and running the rope through a fixed carabiner with both ends reaching the bottom. One end would be affixed to the climber via a harness and the other end would be held securely by the “belayer”, a trusted companion. This system insured there would be no falls further than the stretch in the rope and therefore no injuries. So – it is a very safe system of experiencing the adventure of climbing. I put on the harness, attached the belay line and commenced climbing! I was beyond thrilled to finally be doing what I had dreamed of for so long. It was not a difficult climb but there were places where the hand and foot holds were skimpy indeed and whether you have a belay or not, being twenty feet in the air and not sure of your hands and feet elicits an automatic self-preservation response! I knew I was safe, I thought, but could not be absolutely certain. My knees began to think about shaking but didn't quite. It was a slow process, picking out good hand and foot holds, gradually making my way to the top. Finally – Success! I was standing at the top! I was elated! I looked down where I had started then I looked at the cliff and immediately concluded that it was an accomplishment for sure, BUT, the level of elation that I felt was in no way a reasonable recompense for this little bit of cliff face! There was a disconnect I felt; the numbers did not add up. There was a broken equation somewhere. I resolved to discover exactly what it was. That weekend I went to the local climbing store and bought all the requisite “stuff” and began my rock-climbing adventure, seeking to discern why two plus two equaled eight for me. The excessive elation of my climbs continued but as my skills and experience progressed the inequality of the equation began to diminish. Thus, I noticed, as the climbing became more routine and automatic the elation was somewhat less, but the feeling of accomplishment remained. As I attempted more difficult climbs the elation would return, thus I was beginning to understand the effect, I thought, and how people became addicted to dangerous sports. Always in pursuit of enlightenment I was an avid reader, reading everything I could get my hands on related to spiritual understanding. When I started climbing I “coincidentally” came across a book by Carlos Castaneda, “The Teachings of Don Juan”. I found the book to be interesting but a little outside my comfort zone. However much of the book was fascinating and relevant. The most important part of the book for me, at that time, was Don Juan's teaching how to attain an altered state of consciousness through meditative techniques, one example he used was to “stare at a rock until it was not a rock”. I began to practice that technique and was quite surprised that I was able to achieve a meditative level which elicited an emotional response quite similar, in many ways, to the feeling I experienced at the top of the first cliff I climbed! Putting two and two together was beginning to equal four! I understood now, that as I was climbing the cliff, my focus on each individual piece of rock my fingers and feet were clinging to, which stood between safety and danger, was intense! Thus, my climb I realized now, was a series of very focused meditations from the start of the climb to the top. When I reached the top of my first cliff, I had no clue that I had just completed a series of intense meditations, nor did I comprehend that meditation was the “unmoved mover” behind my ecstatic state. This took place in the early 70's at which time there had not been a lot written in western literature concerning the value of meditation but now studies show the importance of achieving a meditative state in many endeavors. For example, wide receivers in football may describe their world defaulting to “slow motion” as they go airborne to receive a pass. Mathematicians describe “being in the zone” during which they are unaware of the passing of an hour or more, both examples are actually, a meditative state, occurring as a result of intense focus. Armed with what I believed to be an understanding of what was taking place I continued to climb and meditate. They appeared to be complimentary. Right Brain – Left Brain - I commenced my college education as a psychology major and although it was a brief sojourn before changing to biology, I continued to have a strong interest in the subject, reading a great many articles. One of which was a fascinating bit of research about an early attempt to treat epilepsy. The two hemispheres of the brain are connected via a robust network, called the corpus callosum. For one reason or other physicians hoped that severing this connection might render an individual free from epileptic seizures. Although this procedure did not appear to diminish seizure frequency or intensity, it provided an opportunity for further study of the brain. Why waste a perfectly good surgical failure, right? The hemispheres of our brains have differing duties. The right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and vice versa. Also, we have learned that the left brain is the technical side while the right side belongs to the world of intuition (generally speaking). As an example, through brain scans it has been observed that when a pianist plays a piece of music, their left hemisphere plays the music while the right hemisphere is busy enjoying the music! In one experiment, a subject with the corpus callosum surgically severed was placed in a room with a patch over one eye. A person unknown to the subject was brought into the room and introduced. After a brief chat the person left the room. Now the subject had their eye patch moved to the opposite eye. When the person they had met earlier, returned to the room, the subject of the experiment had no inkling who they were! Uncovering the eye which was not covered during the introduction, resulted in an immediate recognition. This interesting little experiment was very meaningful to me. There was, I concluded, clearly the potential for two distinct aspects of our being. The left brain was more tied to the physical world while the right was more emotional and intuitive. Edgar Cayce - Shortly after my taking up rock-climbing I discovered Edgar Cayce, who was the most prominent psychic in America during the first half of the 20th century. Edgar passed from this earth in 1945. It could be said that Edgar dedicated his life to helping people be healthy and understanding their relationship with their Creator. Edgar did not possess infinite wisdom in his normal waking state but had the ability to enter an altered state of consciousness in which he had access to an incredible library of information. Edgar stated that the most important action one could take in order to become closer to their God was to meditate, the next was prayer. Edgar had this to say about meditation, “Meditation allows the mind to fulfill its NORMAL function.” He went on to say that the normal function of our brain was “To be in communion with God.” Why is our brain not in constant communion with God? Every article or book I have read on meditation goes into some detail about how to quiet the “internal chatter.” What, exactly is this “chatter” and what is its origin? Well, it turns out that it originates in our left brain. The left brain comes up with a plethora of topics and throws them in the air like a ball. The right brain, seeing the ball in the air feels obliged to participate in the game. Thus, it goes from moment to moment in our lives until there is an action which interrupts the left/right dialogue. There are several things which automatically interrupt the chatter momentarily. For example, when listening to tones, if both sides of the brain do not hear the same note the dialogue will stop until the irregularity gets sorted out. The late Bob Monroe, of the Monroe Institute used this method to facilitate “out of the body” experiences. Sacred Acoustics also incorporates the same technique in their meditations. A good joke, interrupts the left/right dialogue which I believe contributes to the humor and good feeling it evokes. There are many theories, I am sure, about what the function/purpose of this chatter is but it is clear to me that the left brain represents the ego which desires to dominate and prevent a return to our origin, while the right brain serves as our ‘telephone’ to the divine. When I was in high school and during my first couple semesters in college as a psych major I heard over and over that we all needed a “strong ego.” I accepted this as a truism having no basis to argue one way or the other. However, my meditation exercises and reading began to indicate another position. In much literature on meditation, internal chatter is equated to the ego. This would dictate that if one has a strong ego, meditation might be difficult to achieve. I believe this to be true. I have concluded that what I was taught as a young man, that we needed a strong ego, is questionable. I believe that a strong ego is detrimental to our lives and the lives of those around us. I believe what we need is a close relationship to our God and according to Edgar Cayce that connection to God is achieved by shutting down the ego (meditating). Can this be true? Is it really so simple as: The right brain is our connection to God, while our left brain is our connection to the physical world/ego? I think it is. Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist (really) woke up one morning with something terribly wrong. She came to realize later, she was having a stroke! It was not a “sudden onset” stroke but one that proceeded at what appeared to be, a measured pace. The stroke, as it happened, was on the left side of her brain and was of sufficient size that it was literally shutting down her left brain. What, can you imagine, would be the result of shutting down the left brain? Would it leave you free to experience the glory of God? Jill went on to write a book about her experience titled “A Stroke of Insight” Jill described some of what she felt as her left brain was shutting down, “In the absence of my left hemisphere's judgment, I was completely entranced by the feelings of tranquility, safety, blessedness, euphoria, and omniscience. A piece of me yearned to be released completely from the captivity of this physical form,” This couple of sentences, and much more in Jill's book, clearly illustrate that she was approaching a feeling that we all might expect to experience if and when we approached our own God or the mystical state of enlightenment. Savants - Dr Allan Snyder, currently the Director of the Centre for the Mind at the University of Sydney, has studied savants and where their remarkable abilities in music, art mathematics, memory and more, originate. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/beautiful-minds/201001/conversations-creativity-allan-snyder Dr Snyder has discovered that in every savant he has studied there was a defect in the left brain which resulted in the brain shifting much of its processing to the RIGHT side; the side that is in communion with the divine. My question here is this: Is it the elimination of the ‘ego’ portion of the brain, or the connection to the ‘divine’ that results in the incredible abilities, or perhaps a combination of the two. This brings up the question, “Why can we not all experience super-human abilities by simply shutting down our left brain?” In fact, Dr Snyder is experimenting with this and has had some significant success in his efforts. Dr Snyder states that in the future he feels a “thinking cap” will be in use to enhance our abilities in virtually all areas of humanity. He has not created super-humans at this point but his ability to shut down the left brain is in it’s infancy. Who knows? The Course in Miracles The course in miracles teaches that in the beginning, all souls were in harmonious communion with our Creator. Then – one of us, immediately followed by many more, (because we are all in truth a singularity) had the thought – I wonder what it would be like to be separated from our Creator. The result of this thought was an immediate movement of these souls into the void - on their own. A sequence of events followed that ultimately culminated in the life we experience today. The first effect was insane fear on the part of each separated soul because they were suddenly without the creator, alone in the void. In order to protect themselves they created the ego, whose purpose was to massage our fears into manageable lumps and tell us lies about how great our accomplishments were. All the while, surreptitiously gaining control. The servant became the master! The first souls out of “Pandora's Box” commenced to create the planets (the big bang). Many, who remained with our Creator witnessed what was happening and felt compelled to rescue the “lost” souls. Thus, they departed harmony, following the first out, creating suns to illuminate the void as they swept after. Those who remained behind called out to us “Do not follow the lost ones – there is no need, they will return. We would not listen and felt those remaining did not fully comprehend the importance of “correcting” what so clearly had gone wrong! As those intent on rescuing the lost souls were themselves leaving the presence of our creator, the same fear was encountered and the rescuers found themselves creating their own egos for protection. Thus began the war of the dark and the light. Or the battle of overcoming the ego. Death, I call death the ultimate meditation. Death is fascinating for an infinite number of reasons. As a youth, while in high school I worked at the local hospital as an orderly. In this position, witnessing death was not an uncommon event. My logic would dictate that death, when it came would be the culmination of a gradual cessation of all bodily functions (when not the result of trauma of course). I observed that this is Not necessarily true. Cheyne Stokes respiration, commonly called the “dying gasp” When working as an orderly, I learned to recognize this pattern of breathing. It was a very clear and distinct pattern that indicated the patient was in the process of dying. I observed this phenomenon in about a dozen patients and found the physiological patterns to be virtually identical: A couple of short, significant intakes of air followed by a significant exhale, followed by death (today, the descriptions of Cheyne Stokes differ somewhat from my observations and I attribute this to the drugs administered to a patient in a hospital setting which upsets the normal physiological patterns. My point here is that when we expect all the energy in a person to be depleted, as a person approaches death, the energy is found to make this final gesture, which is a couple significant brief strong intakes of air followed by a significant breathing out, followed by death. Since this out breath is universal I assign it some degree of significance. I feel the out breath facilitates the souls exit from the physical. I may well be the only person who believes this, but my personal experience supports this view. I believe the out-breath serves us during our everyday lives as well. In meditation, one of the most common techniques is to observe the breath as we breathe in and out. I have come to believe that the “in-breath” serves the left brain and the “out-breath” serves the right. Here is what I have found. Most meditative techniques employing “following the breath” give equal billing, so to speak, to both the in and out breaths. I believe that we must be on our guard during the in breath only. The out breath is our pathway to the divine. This makes meditation easier because it cuts our “discipline” in half. Be on guard for internal chatter on the in-breath --- then on the out-breath, free your soul to sail out to the divine without the impediment of a policeman! I attended an Eckhart Tolle event at the Omega Institue in New York and Eckhart described a meditative technique he termed “The Touching” It is simply observing how the in breath cools your nose slightly as the air enters. Paying attention to the cooling of the in breath occupies your left brain and serves to significantly reduce the chatter. Then, upon breathing out the mind is clear and still to connect to the divine. “Be still and know that I am God.”
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In America, as far as I know, if one is bitten by a venomous snake they must wait on treatment until they can be transported to a hospital and then they may encounter further delays if the hospital does not have the proper antivenom. This is not necessary. Virtually all venomous bites are treated in minutes with high voltage, low current, electrical stimulation, think a 'stun-gun' - A stun gun will not injure a human but it will denature the venom. All venoms are complex proteins which can be denatured via high voltage. I have been reading about the use of old bell telephone ringers used to treat snake bites in Latin America for years but they are always ridiculed by the American Medical Association. I'll let you guess why. You do not need to use a stun gun. My daughters cat was bitten by a copperhead and was in serious trouble so I took my "Tens Unit" to her and instructed her to place the two electrodes across the bite. After she hooked it up when she turned the unit on, she said her cat started purring. When she took her cat back to the vet a day or so later, the vet was amazed, declaring she had never seen such a remarkable recovery from a snake bite. A Tens unit supplies a varying high voltage, low current to the electrodes which one places on their body. It is a theraputic device to relieve sore muscles. They can be purchased for as low as 20 dollars. My oldest daughter keeps one with her when she takes her boys hiking in the woods around Virginia. THE DOCTOR'S WORLD
THE DOCTOR'S WORLD; NEW SHOCK THERAPY FOR SNAKEBITES By Lawrence K. Altman, MD Aug. 5, 1986 Credit...The New York Times Archives See the article in its original context from August 5, 1986, Section C, Page 3Buy Reprints This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. A CHAT in a London laboratory between an American missionary physician who practices in the Amazon and two tropical disease experts has led to a new electric shock therapy that saves the lives of snakebite victims but that defies scientific explanation. The treatment is delivered through modifications of what are popularly known as stun guns. It comes in the form of four or five high-voltage, low-current electric shocks. Each is painful and lasts one to two seconds. The shocks are given about five to ten seconds apart and are applied as close as possible to the site of the bites of snakes and such venomous insects as scorpions and ants. In 34 cases where there was evidence of venomous bites that had penetrated the skin of limbs, the current was applied within about a half hour. None of the usual serious medical complications developed and none of the patients died, the researchers said in a report on what could become a revolutionary treatment. Also, the pain of the poisonous bites disappeared within 15 minutes, according to the report in the July 26 issue of The Lancet, a leading medical journal published in London. The missionary physician and the tropical disease experts reported on treatment of the 34 patients in Ecuador. The patients did not receive the usual antivenom therapy for snakebites, one of the authors of the report said in an interview. Venoms can produce damage very quickly. Seven bite victims who refused the electric shock therapy suffered complications such as swelling, bleeding, shock and kidney failure. Two needed life-saving amputations. Although the biting snake could not be identified in all 41 cases, the authors believed that most bites were by small pit vipers similar to the water moccasin and copperhead of North America. Bites by such snakes tend to cause destruction of tissue in the area surrounding the bite, leading to the loss of a finger or part of limb. Larger snakes in the Amazon area can be even more dangerous, but more research is needed to determine if the jolts of electricity will work against venoms that damage the central nervous system. Most astonishing to the authors was that the jolts of electricity were successful even after serious symptoms had already developed. Two additional patients suffered intense pain and swollen limbs from viper bites. Although they were not treated with electric shocks until two hours after the bites, they were relieved of pain within 30 minutes. Their symptoms did not progress, and both recovered with no serious lasting damage. ''We don't understand that and it is very hard to come up with a good scientific hypothesis to account for the change,'' said one of the authors, Dr. Jeffrey F. Williams, an expert in tropical diseases at Michigan State University in East Lansing. Although other physicians said they would consider the treatment experimental until confirmatory reports were published, doctors in three other countries have used it successfully, according to the Lancet report. The technique's greatest potential is in snake-infested areas with limited health care facilities. In eastern Amazon jungles of Ecuador, according to an earlier report, 4 percent of deaths are caused by snakebites, and half the men of the Waoroni tribe suffered more than one snake bite. Because the shock treatment can be applied with electricity generated by such simple devices as outboard motors and power lawn mowers, reports of the therapy have brought inquiries from American military officials and oil company executives who see the potential of including stun guns in first-aid kits for troops and workers in snake-infested jungles and tropical rain forests. Beyond the natural role of electricity in governing the rhythm of the heart and nervous system activity, doctors have been harnessing electricity to play an increasing role in the practice of medicine. They have long used electrocardiograms and brain wave tests called electroencephalograms and other tests to diagnose ailments. In treatment, doctors have little difficulty understanding why jolts of electricity can be effective in resuscitation efforts and in converting abnormal heart rhythms to normal ones. Yet doctors have no explanation for the relief that electroshock therapy can bring many depressed and mentally disturbed patients. More recently, doctors have used lithotripter machines to provide jolts of electricity to break up kidney stones, avoiding major surgery. Orthopedic surgeons apply electric currents to help some broken bones heal. Electric shock therapy for snakebites had its origins in part in the London discussion between the three authors of the report. Dr. Williams recalled how surprised he and Dr. Charles D. MacKenzie of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine were when, during a chat in Dr. MacKenzie's laboratory two years ago, the subject somehow turned to venoms and Dr. Ronald H. Guderian, the missionary physician in Ecuador, described his experiments with the electric shock therapy for snakebites. Dr. Williams said Dr. Guderian described the notion, widespread in Ecuador, that electricity was a therapy for snakebites. He said snakebite victims try to get to an engine in order to run a wire carrying electricity from its coil into the area of the bite. This folklore also led him to overcome his skepticism about a newspaper report of an Illinois farmer who applied high voltage, low amperage, direct current shocks to the site of bee stings to prevent the severe reactions he usually experienced. Though enormous potential exists for clinicians to make valuable contributions to medicine, particularly those who practice in remote geographic areas, most have great difficulty in doing so because they have neither time nor the training to write up their cases in a scientific manner. In this case, all three doctors knew that injections of antivenoms would prevent death or injury in snakebite cases when the biting snakes could be identified and when the antivenoms were available. ''The problem is that people living in a jungle often get bitten four hours canoe ride from anywhere there might be an antivenom,'' Dr. Williams said. He said he and Dr. MacKenzie encouraged ''Ron to pull together his patient records and to collect evidence that was good enough to build a story around.'' Dr. Guderian did just that. Then Dr. Williams and Dr. MacKenzie paid him a visit in Ecuador at the Hospital Vozandes in Quito and at a clinic in Zapallo Grande in the northwestern Ecuador. When Dr. Williams saw the treatment firsthand, he said he realized ''it was a first-aid measure that worked better than anything else.'' The biggest mystery is why electric shock therapy works against snakebites. At first, the group thought it might be because the jolts produced severe muscular spasm that restricted blood flow, preventing the spread of the venom in the body. But favorable results among people who had already suffered severe systemic symptoms, including shock, strongly argue against that theory, Dr. Williams said. Also, he said that the amperage is too low to give a cauterizing effect. Dr. Williams said he had reviewed the entire scientific literature on the chemical makeup of venoms and found they were very complex, some consisting of up to 10 toxic substances. ''It is not a simple toxic effect, and it is hard to understand how something like electricity can have an effect on such a wide range of processes,'' Dr. Williams said. ''It just doesn't make sense right now.'' Now the research must move to laboratories, he said, ''because it is hard to justify too much experimentation on victims in the jungle, particularly when the therapy hurts.'' Dr. Williams said he had milked snakes in Ecuador and carried the venoms back with him for further research. In the next step, he said he and other researchers at Michigan State University plan to find an animal suitable for use in study of the electroshock therapy and venoms. They hope to determine the correct dose of electricity, to learn why the jolts work and to find out what current does when it passes through the body. ''I want a reasonable scientific explanation,'' Dr. Williams said. Correction: Sept. 4, 1986 Thursday, Late City Final Edition A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 5, 1986, Section C, Page 3 of the National edition with the headline: THE DOCTOR'S WORLD; NEW SHOCK THERAPY FOR SNAKEBITES. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe Acid reflux is a common ailment these days and with very few exceptions it is can be easily resolved, although few know the proper method and some medical professionals may make matters worse. Why do people get heartburn? Lets begin by looking at the stomach, where the problem starts. When we consume food there are several steps to digestion that we all learned in grade school: 1. Mastication 2. Mixing of saliva with starches to form sugars 3. Further processing in the stomach via hydrochloric acid and protein - ase type enzymes to break down proteins. So - food goes into the stomach, having been masticated and partially processed via our saliva. Once food is in the stomach there are two sphincter muscles at the entrance and exit; the esophogeal sphincter and the pyloric sphincter. After eating they are both signaled to close AND stay closed until the stomach signals the pyloric sphincter to open.
How does the stomach know how long to keep food? The body has sensors and feedback loops throughout! If the stomach isi no exception. As the stomach works on our food via hydrochloric acid and protein splitting enzymes I am certain there are sensors in the stomach that are "looking" for these degradation products and when a sufficient number are detected, the pyloric sphincter is signaled to open, releasing food to the small intestines. This sounds easy enough but where does it go south? Americans are notorious for drinking copious quantities of liquid (soda, iced tea, beer - you name it) during the consumption of their food. This dilutes the hydrochloric acid, and when the hydrochloric acid drops below the ph, through dilution, required to properly digest food what happens? Well, the stomach is patient! It will happily wait until the digestive by-products are detected then it will release the pyloric sphincter. But, alas, since there is not sufficient acid level in the stomach, this does not happen. What does happens then? Well, the esophageal sphincter eventually reaches a state of exhaustion and begins to release. When this happens, heartburn is the result, because the partially digested food, with some acid is released, back up towards our throat, resulting in sometimes, extreme discomfort. The common treatment for people who have acid reflux? Many are prescribed a "proton pump inhibitor" which serves to lower the stomach acid even more! What happens when people with GERD go on proton pump inhibitors? The stomach produces even less acid, So, actually, the problem is now worse than it was! BUT the pain goes away - why? The same scenario takes place, BUT when the pyloric sphincter tires and releases, there is so little acid in the stomach content, that leaks back up towards the esophagus, do not elicit a painful reaction! People on proton pump inhibitors do NOT digest their food! The results of being on a proton pump inhibitor for a year or more, are startling. 30% more likely to have a broken hip for example. Why? With inadequate stomach acid, precious few nutrients are extracted from the food consumed! There is also a 50% increase of death over five years! Here is an article showing this effect. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170705113546.htm What course of action will resolve (cure) GERD? Since the problem is too little acid, the cure is to increase the acid. There are several ways to do this, and which one works for an individual depends on how much additional acid they require in order to properly digest food. I know about this because I had this problem about 30 years ago. What I came up with is to take a couple tablets of Betaine Hydrochloride These tablets increased my stomach acid so when I ate, my food was processed in a timely manner therefore my esophageal sphincter did not tire and release. The result was: Better digested food AND a happier tummy! There are other products. One treatment that has stood the test of time is "Apple Cider Vinegar" When I mention this, many folks would say, "Yes! My grandmother would take that before every meal" My next question is always "Was she healthy?" The reply is always something like "Yes and she lived to 92!" Over the last 20 odd years I have probably given away ten bottles of Betaine Hydrochloride to folks suffering from GERD. Every person I have provided with this has used it and loved it! I had a young man, about 21 working for me when I was building a house in the mountains and after lunch I saw him sitting by the side of the road hunched over, grabbing his knees with his head down. I said, "Pete, what is going on?" He looked up and all he said was "PAIN!" I went up to the house got a bottle of Betaine, gave it to him and recommended he take two tablets 10 or 20 minutes before meals. The next time I saw Pete I asked. "How's your stomach doing buddy?" The young man was smiling from ear to ear when he said." I have had no pain since I have been taking those pills" My experience is that I do not have to take it for the remainder of my life. For me, if I begin to feel a little discomfort after eating, that is my signal that my acid is getting low, so I will, for the next few meals take some Betaine. With the taking of a few tablets it seems to reset my stomach acid level. I could be the only person this happens to BUT it works for me. Remember - the most important things you can do to avoid GERD is STOP DRINKING DURING YOUR MEAL! Look at Nature! When you see a herd of horses grazing in the pasture, do they eat a little then run for a drink of water?? NO! They eat as much as they want and will much later, go for a drink! Think like a horse. Once upon a time, there was a violin maker by the name of Bill. After Bill completed his apprenticeship he and his wife, Elaine were searching for a lovely place to live and make beautiful violins. After looking and looking and traveling around, they decided on Fredericksburg, Virginia. There, they found a suitable building and set up shop. They loved their violins so much they never wanted to leave them so they moved right in with them, living in the same building, where he and his students made beautiful violins and where Elaine sold his instruments. It was a busy place, with students going in and out and folks coming in to look at and possibly purchase a violin.
One day, Bill sat down to look through a new shipment of spruce, especially cut for violin tops. This is a very important item for Bill, because a violin can be no better than the quality of wood that goes into it! He picked up each pair of boards, looked them over carefully, tapped on them to determine the “voice” of the wood and paid particular attention to the grain of each pair. After inspecting five or six pairs, he picked up a pair that looked very nice indeed. He gave them a tap or two, as he had done the others but something occurred when he tapped this particular pair of boards! Not sure exactly what was happening Bill gave the wood another couple taps. There it was again! He could not quite believe what was happening when he tapped these two pieces of wood. The wood would sparkle. At first Bill thought he was imagining the sparkles but after another half dozen taps he realized that it was real! Bill thought about this for a bit, not quite sure what to make of it. Then gave all the wood in the batch a half dozen taps in order to determine if any other pieces displayed this quality. They did not! “I will have to think about this” Bill said to himself and he slipped the sparkling wood into a drawer he used for special projects. Time went on and eventually it came time to make a violin from the sparkling wood. Bill went to the drawer where it had been waiting, gave it a small trial tap, just to see if the sparkles were still there. Indeed they were! Bill took the wood into his shop and began the construction process. The making of a violin requires a lot of very precise work, the construction of the front commences with gluing the two pieces together. After that, the chisels, planes and saws come out in order to shape the top properly to become a quality violin. Bill would tap the front from time to time just to check the sparkles and they remained, growing stronger as the front took shape. When a violin top is shaped, tapping it is an important step. The violin maker shapes the top, adjusting the thickness and tapping every so often to see what note is produced. When the correct note is heard, the violin maker knows the top is ready for the next step. Throughout this entire tapping process, the sparkles became more and more prominent as the correct note came to the fore. At last the special violin was finished, ready to be sold. Bill put it in the showroom but for a reason he did not quite understand, placed it toward the back where it was not prominent. Bill had mentioned to Elaine the violin was special but did not go into detail of exactly what it was that made it special. When potential buyers came through the door of their shop Bill would quietly go to the sparkling violin and slip it behind a cello so it could not be seen. When Elaine asked why he was doing this Bill replied “I don't know why – it just seems automatic. Sometimes I don't even realize I am doing it.” Thus, time went on, the sparkling violin remained unsold and for the most part – unseen! Then, one day, out of the blue a small girl came in the Violin shop with her mother. Bill glanced up from his work briefly to nod and say hello, letting his wife, Elaine attend to them. As Bill looked back down at his work he was startled, just a little. Had he seen what he thought he had seen?? Could it be? He quietly thought about it, calming his senses to make sure. Then he glanced back up at the small girl for a moment and Bill could not believe his eyes! When the little girl talked, Bill saw sparkles above her head. The exact sparkles he saw in his sparkling violin! He knew immediately he had made the sparkling violin for this small girl. Bill went behind the cello, picked up the violin and brought it out to show the mother and daughter. When the little girl saw the violin she became transfixed! Her eyes opened wide and she could not take her eyes off of it. My goodness! She said, what a beautiful violin! Her mother thought it looked like all of the others but her daughter saw the beauty in it. It sparkles! She whispered quietly, looking at Bill. Bill only smiled and leaned over the counter handing the small girl the violin. She held it as if it were a rare gem. Bill, still smiling, said to her “This is a very special violin. You can not play it now, because you are just beginning, but if you practice very hard and become a good violinist I will be happy to sell you this special instrument.” “At a very special price, I am sure” remarked her mother. It is not about money, I assure you, replied Bill. (it never was about the money for Bill!) Time went on and the little girl practiced very hard every day and became quite a good violinist. One day when she came in for her lesson, as a beautiful young lady now, Bill quietly slipped the sparkling violin from its case and took it up to her teacher with instructions to present it to her as she came in for her lesson. When she opened the music room door, there was her teacher and in her hands was the sparkling violin! The little girl gasped as her teacher said “Bill presented this violin for me to give to you!” She was so happy she was crying as she placed it under her chin and began to play. The striking melody wound its way down to Bill's office, and as it reached his ears, he smiled, leaning back in his chair to enjoy the music, knowing he had made this instrument especially for this little girl, never having met her or even having known who she was. The joy of realizing his hands had brought this instrument to life for her gave Bill a joy that few human beings will ever realize. This little girl plays today, although no longer a little girl, all over the world. How can you recognize her? When you go to a concert and you see sparkles rising from the violin as she plays – You will have found her! The end Sally Hemming was a girl who loved trees! It seemed she was always in, or near some large tree. She could out climb all of the boys she knew, and would stay in a tree longer than anybody else by a mile!
Sally seemed to have an understanding of trees, others did not. She knew where the branches were, almost without looking, and always knew which branches would support her weight, and which branches had been compromised by insects or illness. Sally was a tree wizard! Most people thought she should have been born with green hair. Other than that, Sally was an ordinary school girl, playing softball, running and swimming in the river; all the things the other children of her town loved. She loved school and especially loved biology, always getting As. Of course, when her biology course had to do with trees, Sally received an A+, a perfect score! As the years passed Sally found herself at a university in Virginia studying to become an arborist, a person who studies trees, shrubs and vines. Her love of trees had not waned over the years and she was becoming quite well known for her knowledge of the proper care and nutrition of trees. Sally loved trees so much she wrote a poem about them once while she was hiking through the Virginia mountains. Trees by Sally Hemming Walking up the mountain I long to grasp a leaf gently in my hand then turn, slowly, wrapping myself in its tree, becoming its strength and nobility, partaking in the adsorption of elements from the air and soil as it builds steadily, moment upon moment. Measuring time in milliseconds then millennia. Forever aloof from the travails of men. Sally often wished she could do what her poem described; become part of a tree. She knew if this could happen she would know EVERYTHING about trees! She began to experiment. As she walked through the forest and she saw a nice leaf hanging shoulder height she would grasp it gently, hold it against her shoulder and turn, very gently, with purpose. She might feel a tingling as she turned but that was about as far as it went. Then Sally took a course at her school on “mindfulness” which was intended to help students to center and focus more on their scholastic programs. Sally discovered that this course offered much more! She learned that by quieting her mind she could focus her attention quite intently on what ever she was interested in. The course taught her how to listen to her breath as it went, quietly, in and out of her lungs. This stilled the internal chatter allowing her soul to flee the confines of her physical body. Sally began to take the lessons she learned from this class into the forest. She would sit gently, quieting her mind, absorbing the feelings and intent of the trees, plants and animals about her until she felt a complete oneness with them. After one very good session, as she walked silently back towards campus, she spotted the perfect leaf! She grasped it gently in her hand, then turned slowly, wrapping herself in it's tree, becoming it's strength and nobility. She felt her being dissolve into the tree as she merged with this giant oak. Her delight was beyond measure as she soared through the branches to the very top, from which she could look out over the countryside, seeing her university in the distance. She felt the giant tree pulling carbon dioxide from the air and water and minerals from the soil through the roots which covered an incredible area of the earth and intertwined with the roots of other trees in a dance of cooperation and love. After a few minutes, or hours or days in the tree, Sally realized that of all the emotions she felt, at becoming a part of this lovely living being, love was the most powerful and prominent. Love was the emotion the tree presented to her and to the world. Sally lived in this love for a very long time, learning all of the ways of a tree. How it knew to cooperate with all of the other animals and plants in the forest so that, as a whole, the forest became more than any single individual plant or animal. It became a “FOREST” - Sally, at long last knew the meaning of the word! It meant love! Love of the animals for the trees, love of the bushes for the animals love of the beauty and magical qualities of the soil which was enriched and revered by all. It was a symphony of beauty, love and cooperation all rolled up into a fantastic green paradise for all to enjoy. Eventually, Sally's tree came to realize that it's time on this beautiful earth, in this forest was coming to an end. Sally was sad, BUT the tree was not. It taught Sally that it was going to become food for fungi, a hiding place for mice and groundhogs. A place for grubs and worms which would become food for bears and raccoons and finally, it would enrich the soil on which many more beautiful trees and plants would grow and distribute the love this great tree had accumulated over it's very long life. As the tree released it's form, Sally felt herself being drawn down to the earth. She found her body had been encased by the tree when she came to be one with it and she rejoined her perfectly preserved body, becoming a beautiful young girl again. Gosh! She exclaimed, this feels weird as she bent her arms and legs, shook out her long red hair and began to remember how to walk, then run. Breathing in the air, she discovered that she could now feel the oxygen being absorbed, something she learned from the tree. When she looked around the forest seeing trees and plants she now had an understanding that greatly surpassed her old abilities. She felt what they felt, she could see what they saw. Sally tried to guess the time; it seemed to be about noon. Then she started to walk in the direction of her university. The forest had changed quite a lot she realized, so she knew some considerable earth time had transpired since she first joined with the tree. As she began to emerge from the forest there was not much she could recognize. The buildings were different, she could not recognize the automobiles as any she had ever seen before and when she arrived at the campus much had changed! The biology department was still, however, pretty much the same, biology departments are like that! As she walked in the main building, people were staring at her, in part, because her clothes were unlike anything being worn by the others. This made her feel a little uncomfortable. She made her way to the main administrative office, walked timidly up to the counter and asked for her favorite professor, Dr. Riches. “Who??” they asked. “Dr. R. Harvard Riches” she repeated, “he teaches plant physiology in Townsen Hall.” “Are you certain you are in the correct department young lady? There is no Dr. Riches in biology.” Now Sally was worried! Had she been part of that tree for so long the entire world had changed? “What is the year?” She asked timidly. “Twenty one twenty two” several people replied simultaneously. “Oh my goodness,” Sally said as she raised her hands to her face and slowly slipped to the floor, unconscious. Sally awoke in a white bed, in a white room with white furnishings. The brightness caused her to squint her eyes. She leaned over on one elbow and seeing a nurse asked “Where am I?” “You are in the hospital young lady. You gave everybody quite a start in the admin building when you collapsed to the floor!” “Is that what happened?” Sally asked as she laid back down on the pillow. “Am I still in the university?” “Yes you are, let me go get the doctor so you two can have a chat.” The doctor walked up to her bedside smiling a wide friendly smile which put Sally at ease just a little. “Good morning! My name is Dr. Stephens, everybody calls me Steve. How are you feeling young lady?” “A little groggy I must admit” she offered. “Lets start out with your name,” Steve said as he invited the nurse to have a seat and fill out the appropriate forms. “Sally Hemming” she replied. “How old are you Sally?” “Twenty three, and I am a student here, but nobody seems to recognize my major professor's name!” “And, what is his name?” asked Steve. “Dr. Riches” Sally answered, “Dr. R. Harvard Riches.” “Well” said the doctor, “that is unusual because there has not been a Dr. Riches at this university for quite some time! When were you in his class?” Nineteen ninety eight. “Whoa!” Said Steve, “that would be, let me see now – 124 years ago!” Sally put her hands up to her temples and said “OH MY GOODNESS! How can that be possible?” “As far as I know, Steve said, it is not! But, lets not worry about that just yet, lets focus on your health and get you situated.” “Good idea” she replied. After a series of tests Steve declared she was the healthiest person he had possibly ever seen! “How have you maintained your health?” Steve asked. “I wish I was as healthy as you are!” “It's a long story” Sally responded, with a long sigh. “I bet it is!” Steve replied but restrained himself from asking further. “We found you in our records: Sally Hemming, you were a grad student, a very good arborist from what I have read. And then in 1989 you disappeared! There were dozens of searches through the forest and beyond, and a good many newspaper articles but you were never found.” “And now I have been found” she said. “Or rather, I have found you!” “Yes, so it seems” Steve smiled. “I have arranged a place for you to live and while we get this all sorted out I have spoken with Dr Levine, the universitie's resident arborist to show you around. I am sure you two will have much to talk about. A great deal has happened in your area of study in the last 124 years! “I'm sure” Sally replied. Sally immediately liked Dr Levine, who was much younger than she expected. He must be truly dedicated, to have achieved so much in such a short time she thought. He was a gentle unassuming soul who clearly loved trees as much as she did. “Please call me Norm” he said and they shook hands. They began to chat away as if they were resuming an old conversation. Walking through the campus, identifying various trees and shrubs they were oblivious to everything around them, save each other and the plants. With each tree or plant they came upon, Sally would lay her hand on the trunk or grasp the leaves. Norm watched as she did this and could have sworn that she was actually penetrating the bark just a little but said nothing. After touching the tree Sally could go on at some length as to the health and history of each tree and plant. Dr Levine was dumbfounded but absolutely fascinated! They came upon an apple tree which was growing old and was no longer producing more than a few apples every year, Sally laid her hand on the trunk and quietly listened then she instructed Norm to plant roses around it, which he did. Not knowing why. Lost in their chattering, time was slipping by. When Dr. Levine glanced at the clock tower on campus and declared, “OH my goodness! I was suppose to have you at the women's dorm to meet with Mrs Spooner, of student housing thirty five minutes ago!” So off they went. Mrs Spooner was a delightful soul and gave Sally a brief tour of the facilities and showed her to a room which was to be hers for the time being. It was a lovely private room with a private bath and a mini kitchen. More than sufficient for a scientist! Norm bid them adieu and invited Sally to come and visit his department in the morning where they could continue their conversation. “Delightful plan” Sally said as she settled into her new abode. After a very nice day together, talking of, what else? Trees. Norm took her to his favorite restaurant in the old part of town. Sally thought it odd that the “Old” part of town was all “new” to her. Norm and Sally became very good friends, virtually inseparable. Sally was hired as an arborist and when word spread of her knowledge and sense of plants and trees the demand for speaking engagements became almost more than she could accommodate! Eventually, as one might have guessed, Norm and Sally were married. On the morning after the wedding, as they sat having a cup of coffee, Norm said. "You know Sally, I have never asked where you were for the last 124 years but If you are inclined, I would very much like to know." Oh, replied Sally, laying her hand on Norm's and looking him squarely in the eye, believe me Norman, you would NEVER believe! But - He did. PS – By the following summer the old apple tree that Norm planted roses around was producing more apples than anybody on campus could ever remember! I began hypnotizing people in 1964 when I was still in high school. After high school my hypnosis sessions slowed considerably, however I continued to read a great deal about hypnosis on a regular basis. I was, and continue to be, on a mission to discover the reason we are all gathered together (seemingly) on this round ball we call earth.
When reading, I constantly endeavor to “connect the dots,” attempting to detect what I call “The golden thread” which connects truth to truth to truth in the written world. I have traced a good many threads in my life and one of the most interesting threads has to do with hypnosis and the purpose of our earthly lives. Edgar Cayce. Of the many fascinating ideas I have read that came from Edgar, one of the most intriguing is: “The most heinous crime you can possibly imagine is closer to God than you would ever know.” Upon reading this sentence I was bewildered. After turning it this way and that for quite a while (years) I began to feel more comfortable with it, deciding that it was somehow related to Jesus’ admonition that we should “Judge not, lest we be judged.” We will revisit this statement later. Bob Monroe, Bob, the founder of “The Monroe Institute” and “Hemi Sync,” wrote in his book “Far Journeys” about his adventures in an altered state of consciousness achieved through his “out of body” exercises. The more Bob explored, the more adept he became at traveling to new and interesting places and as a result, the more guidance he received from the beings he encountered. Bob eventually came into contact with a group of entities which he called “inspecs”, short for “Intelligent Species”. They took Bob on many adventures and eventually began to teach through re-creations of events from earlier in Bob’s life. Bob would re-live the event as if it were as real as when it happened. During this playback the inspecs would monitor Bob's emotional reaction. If Bob experienced an emotion or took an action that the inspecs determined to be not the highest course, there would be a “click” and the entire scene would be replayed from the beginning. The Inspecs would patiently replay as many times as necessary until Bob learned the lesson from the experience and subsequently made the correct decision. As an example, one such event was the time a big mean dog came into Bob’s yard and killed his little dog, Steamboat. CLICK! (The beginning of the session) A huge white dog, three times the size of our beloved Steamboat - what a name for such a nice little dog - has him by the neck, the massive jaws firmly shaking Steamboat back and forth in quick jerks, Steamboat’s body already swinging limply. (No No!) I can’t let it happen? Is it Steamboat? It is! He’s dead, Steamboat is dead? I’ll kill that big son of a bitch, he’ll never… CLICK! RESET. A huge white dog, three times the size of steamboat has him by the neck in massive jaws that are swinging Steamboat from side to side, Steamboat hanging limply. (Steamboat is dead! Dead! What a tragedy! I’ll miss him. I’ll miss him. Let go, big dog, so I can take what’s left and… CLICK! RESET. A big white dog much larger than Steamboat has him by the neck and is swinging Steamboat back and forth, Steamboat hanging relaxed, eyes closed. (Well, little fellow, if that is the way it is, thanks for staying around as long as you did. We had fun together. You gave me a lot of rote that will always be part of me…) Still in the jaws of the big white dog, Steamboat raises his head slightly, opens one eye, winks at me and grins. CLICK! What appears to be an evil act turns out to be not as bad as we might have thought. However, this “new understanding” was not available to Bob until he processed the event sufficiently to be able to view it without fearful emotion. Dr. Irene Hickman After graduating from medical school, in order to affect the healing Irene dreamed of as a youth, she would frequently use hypnosis in order to regress an individual to the past life incident which was the causative factor for the dis-ease. Of this method she said: “Rare is the person who does not at some period of their life suffer from an allergy - a reaction to some substance usually harmless to others.” People who have a special sensitivity to a food or other substance, or to an animal are usually advised to avoid the allergen if they can or are given a long series of desensitization shots. I have not found - even after lengthy search - any reference in the medical literature that mentions an attempt to find the reasons that those persons who manifest allergic reactions react as they do. I used the same approach to the allergies of my patients that I used for other kinds of illness. I would help them into a state of hypnosis and then ask them to tell me why they were reacting in this manner. Answers were usually promptly given, the initial causative event was lived through until the emotion was expended and then the allergy would be relieved.” Irene took the approach that the patient’s higher self always knew the appropriate action to be taken and always used it as a resource for treatment. The cause of disease frequently was found to be a traumatic event from an earlier life or earlier multiple lifetimes. After discovering the source, Irene would direct the patient to re-live the event until the angst had dissipated completely. At this point the event could be re-lived without the slightest trauma. Having reached this “fearless” state the illness or allergy would cease to exist. Irene described this method as “expending the emotion,” while many hypnotherapists describe it as desensitization. Both descriptions are adequate for describing the apparent events, however, I believe both descriptions miss the actual mechanics of what is transpiring. Irene had a female patient who was terribly allergic to cats. So – she hypnotized this patient and asked where the cause originated. The young woman found herself in a rural setting a considerable time in the past. She was only around two or three years old. On her family’s farm, cats were kept in order to control the rodent population, they were not pets. This young lady, one day, made her way to the hay loft where the cats cage was kept. She saw a cute litter of new kittens inside. Fascinated she let herself in and played with the kittens. This was so much fun, she went back the following day. This time, the mother cat returned and rushed to the defense of her kittens, clawing and biting the young woman to death. The first time the patient related this event she was understandably mortified but with each repetition the angst diminished until, the final time, as the cat was ripping her physical body she commented “What a beautiful cat!” When she awoke, the allergy was gone. The Course in Miracles I began studying “The Course” in the 1980s. I found it to be rather complex and not terribly easy to digest. I would lay it aside for a spell then resume the study several times over the years until it finally began to make sense. Some of what I believe I have learned includes:
Freud was onto something when he developed his “Repetition Compulsion” theory, although I do not believe he explained fully what was taking place. It did, however facilitate improvement for many patients. If an event transpires at some point in an individual’s sojourns that causes significant trauma and that trauma is not resolved by exorcising the fear, then the soul's desire for a resolution will cause inappropriate behavior to surface again and again. The repeated surfacing is intended to lead a health practitioner to discover and then assist the individuals to resolve the original trauma. Sadly, this does not often happen in our world. It could and I believe it will be commonplace in the not too distant future, through trans-personal hypnotherapy. Fred Fisk The next dot came to me as a radio program on American University Radio, WAMU 88.5FM out of Washington DC. A fellow by the name of Fred Fisk had a nightly talk show during which he would create a program about anything he considered interesting. In the mid seventies I was traveling from Rockville, MD to Raleigh, NC as part of my work. I tuned the radio to WAMU finding Fred just starting his evening program. His show that evening was made up of a panel of seven psychiatrists who had several things in common that I found absolutely fascinating. They were:
The acts perpetrated by the Nazis during the holocaust were not what most people believed them to be. It appeared that they were possibly more helpful than harmful to the soul of the individuals. One can not come to this conclusion without simultaneously realizing that the Nazis were not evil beings but volunteers who came to assist people in the completion of some cycles. Now, this is just a personal view BUT Since I believe that the Nazis would not receive a “get out of jail free” pass for the acts they committed during this time, I conclude that they were brave souls indeed because they were signing up for not only “committing the acts” but were also signing up for the “karmic payback” that would logically follow! With the victims of the holocaust the remedial treatment is exactly that used by Irene Hickman. Repeated reenactment of the heinous deeds which elicited the terror until such time as terror is replaced by kind and gentle thoughts as the Nazis are committing noxious deeds. Courageous Souls In Robert Schwartz's book, “Courageous Souls” this scenario is described over and over again. The book opens with this Prologue: “On February 25th 1969, Christina, a twenty year old administrative assistant in the department of political sciences at Pomona College in Claremont, California, went to the department’s basement mailbox to pick up her employer’s mail. As she touched a package in the mailbox a bomb detonated, hurling her across the room. Dust and soot filled the air; six foot splinters of wood shot like arrows into the concrete wall behind her. Flames from the explosion scorched Christina’s face, leaving her temporarily blind. The blast severed two fingers from her right hand and ruptured both eardrums. Christina planned this experience before she was born. And, she knows why. Conclusion Where is all this going? Are we all here to experience grief and tragedy over and over until we pass from the earth? Or are we being presented opportunities to learn unconditional love, which is another way of saying that we can eliminate fear from our soul pattern if we seize the moment. Clearly, to me, the latter is the case. If, as The Course in Miracles states, our ego creates fear to keep us separated from our Lord then we should ask “How does our ego accomplish this task?” I believe the Ego can only create illusions. Our illusions certainly appear to be real to us as we bleed and die as a result. Who's to say that bleeding and death are actually real. Albert Einstein stated that the entire universe was an illusion. He went on to state that it was, however, a VERY persistent illusion. To make things more difficult for us the ego has had lifetime upon lifetime to cultivate our fear and hone it to a razors edge. Where are we to turn having been conditioned so? The Course in Miracles tells us that we can “step out of our illusions” when we are ready. However, this is not possible as long as the ego has us consumed with scenarios which arouse our fear. Where is the escape hatch? This is where the magic of hypnosis comes in! Hypnotherapists can facilitate the elimination of fear for each individual encountered. They have the capacity to visit as many lifetimes as required in order to exorcise the entirety of fear from their being. Hypnotists have in their toolbox, the gift of the plasticity of time! They are indeed time travelers who can traverse millennia in pursuit of the purity of love for each of their clients. By visiting traumatic events and re-playing them over and over until individuals are “desensitized” we begin the process of allowing love to blossom, unimpeded by fear. Once an individual has been freed from the lifetimes of “programmed fear” by the ego, the soul transforms into its true state, fulfilling its true destiny. To love unconditionally! Each person freed from fear, becomes a beacon unto others until the entire globe becomes a beacon unto the vast universe! |
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AuthorAfter high school I spent three years in the army, one of which was in Viet Nam. I found it to be a beautiful place with beautiful people and met my first Buddhist Monks there. I used to visit them frequently. This does not minimize the service of many others who had a MUCH harder time than I, too many of them losing their lives. Archives |
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