Day 29 - Human Anatomy Houses Your Spirit

Seconds after the moment of conception we are a cluster of 100 trillion cells, more than there are stars in the Milky Way.  Each cell completes six trillion tasks a second and knows what all the other cells are doing.   That is just frigging amazing!  

I ended my juice and broth fast several days ago.  Solid food, what a heavenly treat.  First meal - I steamed some broccoli and carrots, I garnished them with a bit of creamery butter, a dash of sea salt and ground black pepper.  It was delicious and all 100 trillion cells rejoiced and enjoyed the feast. 

What did my fast accomplish?  I'm certainly not cured of COPD, but I feel a hell of a lot better than I did last month.  The breathlessness has decreased substantially, I have more energy, and there is a new sense of ease in my body.  My morning cough returned surprisingly a couple of days ago.  This was the disease letting me know that it still exists.  Nice try buddy, but I'm still here, can't get rid of me that easily.  

Now my objective is to follow a healthier diet and lifestyle than I did prior to the fast, so as not to diminish the gains I've accomplished.  My diet will be lighter, with more fresh fruit and vegetables.  I will eat only good organic cuts of meat, but not on a daily basis.  Daily walks in the forest or by the ocean.

Oxygen is the primary food, and I will partake by daily practice of the Buteyko Method.  In May I'll begin new sessions with the world's most talented Buteyko Practitioner, Christopher Drake http://cpdrake.googlepages.com/christopherp.drake

Now more than ever I believe the great teacher Rudolph Steiner's proclamation, "For this is a great secret: all the healing forces reside originally in the human breathing system."   During the summer I'll do another juice fast, this time I'll have hot weather as support.  Being empty and sitting in the sun with a glass of water in your hand is a glorious feeling.  

For those suffering with COPD the key is to try and not let the body be overwhelmed by the disease.  And that's exactly what will happen if you do nothing yourself to stop its progression.  

There are many stages of the disease, and this must be considered when planning your own treatment.  The earlier stages are best suited for self-treatment, but even severe stages can be improved upon.  Keep the blood clean and thin. Maintain the blood's "highways" and keep them dilated.  Be vigilant of your breath. Cultivate the habit of good breathing by learning and practicing the Buteyko Breathing Method.  Economize sleep.  Sit in the sunshine.  Enjoy the marvels of life.  Feel LOVE - receive it and radiate it.   

Day 21 - Matters Of The Heart

I haven't written a post for five days.  I hurt and may have lost someone I love dearly.   Now the fast isn't as important as matters of the heart.  I'm feeling rather miserable emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.  I feel I've destroyed something beautiful and precious.  And I've created two heartaches; hers and mine.    

Physically my COPD symptoms have improved.  I had a root canal and was able to lie on my back with my feet raised and mouth forced wide open for over two hours.  That would have been an impossible feat for me a month ago.  My blood pressure is down to 125/75.

I'm going to ratchet up my Buteyko practice, pushing my maximum pauses further.  I'm hoping the increased carbon dioxide and nitric oxide will help heal my broken heart.

I feel like eating a medium rare steak and drinking one too many martinis.  That's a sure way of dulling this pain.  To see love and laughter in her eyes again would too.  

http://www.remedialbreathing.com/breath_hold_test

 

Day 16 - Monk Feelings And Pavlov's Dog

A fast separates the self from normal daily living.  The rhythm is broken. No buying food.  No preparing food.  No eating food.  No digesting food.  No eliminating food.  I feel isolated.   We spend our entire lives eating.  Stopping that puts a different slant on just about everything.

It's a new world that is void of food.  Emotions roll and boil.  I can feel my heart beat easier. I can feel me better.  There is no food but plenty of reflection.

I hear some distant spiritual bells, they sound familiar, but seemingly from a past life.  I feel monk-like.  My physical being is slowly changing.  I feel my lower intestines empty.  Although I still made a trip to the outhouse.   I'll get a colonic in a day or two.  My stomach is definitely empty.  I'd like to empty my mind too, get rid of the constant chatter and wandering, but that continues.  It stills somewhat when I do my breathing work.  I have a Pavlov's dog experiment underway.  When I sit down to do my breathing I ring a small brass bell.  I alert my brain and body that it is time to shift gears.  Breathing will now be controlled.  Breathing will now become the centre of awareness.  Breath will begin its healing power.  

I feel stronger.  I'm not always happy, who is?   I move around quite effortlessly in the house,  joyous walking is no longer a forgotten woe.  My senses seems to be more acute.  My skin is smoother, tighter around the eyes.  I'm more at ease.  I can lie on my back and relax.  That seems like such a normal thing to be able to do, but a few weeks ago that relax-on-the-beach-feeling was not available to me.  My body is enjoying its new state of being.  I am too.

Day 15 - Planet In Peril

We know about global warming and the potential catastrophe we're heading towards.  Prince Charles said in a recent speech that we have 100 months to turn the calamity around, or the human race may exist on a very hostile, inhospitable planet that eventually may not be fit for human life.  Welcome to planet Earth.  

Al Gore has been chanting the mantra for a long time.  Most scientists agree that the climate changes are accelerating faster than first estimated. 

Potentially the greatest crisis facing mankind has virtually vanished from all the major news outlets.  The news is dominated by the economy.  Market bailouts, stimulus packages, propping up the banks, trillions of dollars from China, get credit flowing, Bernie Madoff generates the greatest Ponzi scam in world history swindling movie moguls and charities, GM, the largest automobile company in the world is on its knees, gasping for air, greed, arrogance, and the almighty dollar seem to make the world go 'round.   Soon there may not be a world to do business in, but nobody seems to care.  

People with COPD are like a planet in peril. Sea water is remarkably similar to blood.  In the early 1900s experiments were run on a dog.  All the dog's blood was drained and replaced with a filtered sea water solution. On the second day after the transfusion, half the dog's normal blood components had returned, regenerated by its body.  By the fourth day its blood was back to virtually normal and the dog was active, full of energy and happy.  It lived for many years with no adverse effects.  

Global warming depicts carbon dioxide as the evil gas. Yandell Hederson, Ph.D studied the gas and wrote this in a paper he wrote,  "Carbon dioxide is, in fact, a more fundamental component of living matter than is oxygen."   The entire text is here and is required reading for those interested in the condition of COPD and how the lack of carbon dioxide plays a roll. http://cpdrake.googlepages.com/carbondioxide

Our own little COPD plagued planets are in peril.  What to do?  Trees are the lungs of the world. Our lungs need some help too.  Cleanse the body, like I'm documenting.  Increase your carbon dioxide levels by practicing the Buteyko Breathing Method and get much needed oxygen to your 100 trillion cells.  Eat a light nutritious diet heavy with fresh fruit and vegetables.  Drink water whenever your thirsty.  Use a slant board to get the blood flowing to the brain.  Find a power plate and use it to stimulate your organs and glands. 

Keep optimistic, don't believe that COPD is incurable.  Your body has innate healing properties, just give it the support it needs.  Be grateful for all the good in your life. Breathe less, talk less, sleep less, love more.   

Day 14 - Buteyko Nose Best

One of the first things we learn when studying the Buteyko Method is to breathe through our nose at all times, the inhale, exhale, all night and all day.  The nose warms and filters the air before it enters the lungs.  

I attended a COPD symposium last month, there was a panel of three physicians specializing in lung care.  I was amazed at their ignorance.   A question was asked, "Should we breathe through our noses or mouth?"  The answer was  - it doesn't matter whether you breathe through your nose or mouth, it's a personal preference.  He totally mislead the 300 people in the audience.  The incorrect answer verified the lack of knowledge regarding the process of breathing in the field of medicine. 

Taping the mouth closed during sleep is such a simple and beautifully effective and ingenius method.   Breathing is one the simpilest yet complex functions of the body.  It's totally taken for granted until  one can't breathe well.  The British Columbia Lung Association has a slogan, WHEN YOU CAN'T BREATHE NOTHING ELSE MATTERS.  God, that's true, but I think you have to experience this to believe it.  

When one is healthy very little attention is paid to the breath, it's all but ignored.  

The nose is our most sensitive organ, enabling us to distinguish between more than 10,000 complex odors.  We do not seem to put this ability to any significant use.  Science now believes that smell play a factor in creating unconscious bonds between people.  Experiments reveal that babies can distinguish between their mothers and strangers at the age of six days using their sense of smell.  

So, my fasting journey continues.  I still feel strong, experiencing less symptoms than 2 weeks ago.  I'm not breathless all the time, but certainly can become so if I don't conserve my energy.  I'm less breathless, that's for sure.  My cough has all but disappeared, but there is still mucous being produced in my lungs.  The only way it's expelled now is when I'm on the slant board.   The mucous has a light green/yellow colour and sticky.  I'm hoping the mucous production will cease before I finish the fast. 

Post script.  I went to the "outhouse" again today.  A healthy deposit which continues to surprise me.   

Day 13 - Mirror MIrror On The Wall

Can you imagine a bathroom without a mirror?  We all spend time gazing at our selves in the mirror, looking at our imperfections and studying what the ravages of time is doing to our bodies.  If you really want to check your face out, get a mirror that has the power of 5X or 10X.  Pores and nose hairs you never knew existed leap out into plain magnified view.  YIKES!   Imperfections illuminated. 

During a long juice fast changes take place inside the body and out.  I've lost weight, not sure how much yet, don't plan to step on the scales until day 28.  As the fast progresses, the tongue is a good indicator of the cleansing process.  First it gets a rather heavy fuzzy coating, then that slowly begins to clear.  Mine seems to be clearing from the sides and working inward.  

The eyes too are a good indicator.  The whites should become whiter, that sounds like a Tide detergent ad.  Today my eyes are a bit bloodshot.   Hair should become shiny.  My hair is staying in the skull.  The morning brushing used to result in lots of hair in the brush and sink, now there's maybe three, sometimes none.  

I'm still emptying my colon too, went twice today.  Some evenings I'll have warm organic vegetable broth, with maybe a blended tomato added, half teaspoon curcumin, and crushed garlic.  This may be what's creating the bowel movements, or I could be still eliminating old waste.  I'm not sure, but it feels good to elimiinate to complete the law of reception and release. 

My overall physical state feels stronger than when I began.  Two weeks to go.  I look forward to the end of the juice fast path and to see how my organism reacts.  I think being proactive is the only way to combat COPD.  If you just do nothing the progression of the disease will overwhelm the body and kill it.  

Western medicine tells us that we have an incurable disease.  I so want to believe this statement and prove them wrong:  "For this is a great secret: all the healing forces reside originally in the human breathing system.  And anyone who truly understands the whole dimension of the breath know the healing forces from the human side.  They do not reside in the other systems of the human organism, these other systems have themselves to be healed.  A secret of activity of healing resides in the breathing system, and all the secrets of healing are at the same time secrets of breathing."  Rudolph Steiner. 

I am so grateful for the genius of Dr. Konstantin Buteyko for giving us the breathing exercise required for the task of healing.   

  

Day 12 - Famous Blue Pill

Viagra is one of the most famous drugs in the world, verifying forever that sex sells.  Pfizer, the gigantic pharmaceutical company that makes Viagra is researching drugs for COPD.   

Sildenafil was originally tested as a heart drug.  Always thought the drug study would make a great movie, nice mix of tragedy and raunchy comedy.  

The pitch.  A bunch of older guys with bum hearts are recruited to try out a new drug.  The head physician tells them the purpose of the study and gives them some pills to take home.  Buddy pops a tablet just before dinner.  Later he gazes over at his wife who's making gravy for the roast beef in the oven.  Is it her short dress?  The way she's bending over?  Her skin?  Her legs?  The nape of her neck?  Whatever it is, he's got a ranging hard on and wants to screw her NOW!  Due to his impotence they haven't had intercourse in years, so his advances surprise his lovely wife.  Surprise and thrill her, and quickly they are getting it on like teenagers on the kitchen table, gravy burning on the stove!   Similar stories happen to three other guys and they all become fast friends.  

Hope you haven't heard this joke.  An attractive woman goes to her doctor.  In tears she tells him about her husband's erectile dysfunction and how they haven't made love forever.  He gives her a sample package Viagra.   The woman is doubtful, explaining that her husband doesn't take any drugs, he won't even do an Aspirin.   The doctor instructs her to grind 50 milligrams of Viagra up and secretly put it in his coffee.  

She returns a few days later, more distressed than ever.  What happened?  "I did exactly what you told me to do, one morning I put the powdered Viagra in his coffee.  Pretty soon he got this wild look in his eye.  AND a huge bulge in his pants.  He grabbed me, lifted my dress, ripped my panties off, and took me right there on the floor.  It was absolutely amazing, we'd never had sex that good."  Then why are you so unhappy, asked the doctor?   "We can never go back to our favorite Starbucks again!" 

OK, enough humor, let's return to the serious stuff.  

I use Viagra.  Maybe that's not so serious.  Anyway when I take Viagra I feel really good, and it's not jut the wine, women and song that may be happening.  I breathe better.  I feel less pressure in my chest and I have more energy, and the physical ability to do things.  I feel more at ease and I'm sure it's the result of cappilaries opening up in my heart and lungs.

An erection occurs when blood flows freely to the genitals, and that invigorated blood flow happens all through the body.  I know they have done test trials using Viagra to treat people with COPD.  Viagra works by influencing the nitric oxide molecule which expands blood vessels.  Now here's the GOOD NEWS.  When doing Buteyko breathing, nitric oxide is produced abundantly in the para nasal sinuses. 

Just recently I began to read the works of Rudolph Steiner.  His quote says it all, "For this is a great secret: all the healing forces reside originally in the human breathing system." 

So today I am even more invigorated to deepen my Buteyko Breathing practice. There is no alternative.  And a treatment that involves sitting quietly in a relaxed manner and breathing gently can become most enjoyable. 

Day 11 - Love In A Big White House

As soon as Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President of The United States, I was damn sure he would win.  He just had that destiny vibe about him.  When he spoke in Grant Park after the victory, I wept all through his masterful speech.  When I woke up the next morning I felt as though I was living in a new world.  A better world, the future looked astonishingly bright!  I still feel that way.  

His Presidency in part has inspired this fast.  I want to be well and vigorous to see what this guy can do.  I plan to be around for both terms of office.  My kids and grand kids will be almost a decade older, and because of Barack Obama I think they'll live in a better world, we all will.  

He's in such a good space.  It radiates from his face, he walks with grace and composure, and he speaks so eloquently.  Bill Clinton was a great orator, but Barack Obama has taken the art of Presidential speaking to a higher level.  To say he inspires is an understatement.

What makes him so wonderful is he is an exquisite human being.  He's soulful.  He's brilliant.  He's artistic. He's beautiful.  He's funny.  He's athletic.  He's sexy.  He's compassionate.  He's passionate.  He's present.  And he radiates LOVE.  

He will change the world because there is love in the Whitehouse.  His love is blatantly obvious when he's with Michelle and his girls.  Love can change the world.  It's the only force that can.  Technology creates change, but we'll only develop better toys and weapons that can kill better.  Love in the human heart is the only thing that will stop mankind's murderous rampage on each other and the planet.   

A short update on my state of being during the juice fast.  I haven't eaten solid food in 10 days, but I still went to the "outhouse" this morning, T W I C E!   I find that quite amazing, I guess people were right when they told me I was full of shit!

I feel stronger and I have more energy.  There's snow on the ground, and with ease I took the garbage out this morning and marvelled at the towering cedar trees in the yard.  That may not sound like much, but for me it's a huge change.

A month ago I would be coughing and wheezing doing that simple task that most people take for granted.  

Being able to walk again feels like a miracle.  Yesterday, my son Jonas and I enjoyed a half mile walk in the snow.  Before the fast, a half block was all I could muster. 

I still cough up mucous from the lungs, but it's less than before.  I hope by day 28 the mucous is no more.  I'm doing my Buteyko exercises with more diligence and focus.  The juice fast contributes to my well being, but getting oxygen to my tissues via the breathing exercises is the key to my renewed energy level.  I feel blessed that I have this method to deal with this incurable and relentlessly progressive disease. 

COPD is like a being on an unmanned freight train rumbling down a mountain track, I feel I've applied the breaks a little.  One day I might even be able to stop the train and hop off.    

Day 10 - Good Vibrations

Everyone has heard of good vibrations.  If you're sensitive to them you can feel a good or bad vibration emanating off people.  It's a subtle energy that's picked up.  Vibrations have long held mystical relevance too.  When OM or more properly AUM is chanted the body vibrates, especially the throat and heart regions.  Chanting Buddhist monks  "feel the textures of their own states of consciousness."

Vibrations of long held healing properties.  But now I refer to man made vibrations in particular the Power Plate that Madonna has made famous.    It's been around for a long time and once again it was invented by the Russians.  They used it in their space program to help the cosmonauts over come decreased bone mass loss and muscle tone during weightlessness.   The Russian's kept the technology a secret during the cold war. The world first witnessed its benefits when the Russians started winning all the Gold at the 1960 Olympic games.

For people with COPD who are unable to exercise this device is miraculous as it trims body fat, builds muscle, and increases bone density.  The workouts require very little expenditure of energy and the results can be spectacular. 

I think the real glory of the technology lies in what it does to the body's inside.  The vibration stimulates the glands, all other organs, and increased blood flow creating renewed oxygenation.

In one study, six of ten infertile women became pregnant after using the device for only three minutes a day three times a week.  The study determined the fresh oxygen-rich blood flow and deep tissue stimulation of the uterus and ovaries was the reason.

I think the elevated oxygenation will help people with COPD.  I have a small hand held vibrator that I use twice a day for ten or 15 minutes. I start with the souls of my feet and work up.  I rest the device at the base of my skull, don't know if this stimulates the respiratory center and the brain, but it sure feels like it does.  If my IQ goes up I'll let you know.   

Day 9 - Gymnastics And A Good Bloody Story

Olga Korbut won three gold and one silver medal at the 1972 Olympics.  She also won the hearts of millions of men and became the talk of the planet.  Nobody had ever seen a gymnast do what Olga could do, that's because no one had ever done it before.  She performed with grace and super human athleticism, that combined with emotional music made her an icon. She wept openly when she faltered and the world fell in love.     

Russians often refer to the Buteyko Method as breathing gymnastics.  It's a good analogy, because the breathing exercises demand the lungs to perform like never before.  People with COPD over breathe, they hyperventilate - they breathe more than the body requires.  People with COPD even over breathe while resting.  The lungs are performing on auto pilot, no one is at the controls.

Fortunately the lungs are organs whose function we have some voluntary control over. So it's a matter of sitting at the controls and doing something radical.  At least the body will consider it radical because it has never experienced this force before.  It has had no demands.  

COPD is relentlessly progressive and once in its grip, there is a feeling of helplessness.  Hope vanishes and the disease robs you of vitality, a sense of well being, and eventually your life.  Buteyko offers a beacon of hope.  It's the lighthouse in the dark windy, wave whipped night.  If someone with COPD does nothing, but inhale medicine, they will suffer through a rather dismal life and die.

Western medicine can offer them very little.  Dr. Buteyko offers "From Russia With Love."

The respiratory center is located in the medulla oblongata, the lowermost part of the brain at the rear of the head.  The respiratory center receives controlling signals of neural, chemical, and hormonal nature and controls the rate and depth of respiratory movements of the diaphragm and other respiratory muscles.  Long term hyperventilation plays havoc and upsets, or better yet, ruins our neural, chemical and hormonal balances.

It's the respiratory center that Buteyko Breathing resets.  Too great a volume of air being breathed in and out of the lungs causes low levels of carbon dioxide.  After months and years the respiratory center becomes accustom to this lower level of CO2 and determines it to be correct.  Our respiratory center in turn instructs us to over breathe to maintain these low levels of carbon dioxide, even though our organs and tissues are starved of oxygen. 

A bloody good story.  The release of oxygen from the haemoglobin molecule is dependent on the quantity of carbon dioxide in our alveoli/arterial blood.  If the carbon dioxide is not at the required level of five percent the oxygen sticks to the haemoglobin and is not released to tissues and organs.  This bond was named after the physician who discovered it and is known as the Bohr Effect.

The Buteyko breathing method restores the body's levels of carbon dioxide thus resetting the respiratory center and causing the body to breathe in a healthy manner. The new elevated level of carbon dioxide dilates the smooth muscle around airways, arteries and capillaries.  They OPEN UP.  Now this increase in carbon dioxide results in a greater distribution of new oxygen rich blood which translates into reduced symptoms.  People who could barely walk a block before they were breathless can now walk a couple of miles.  Rapid heart rate may return to normal.  Sexual activity is revitalized.  Happiness returns.  All I can say is God bless Dr. Buteyko.  

Back to Olga Korbut and breathing gymnastics.  Today my breathing gymnastics (breathing exercises) consist of three minutes of reduced, or very shallow breathing, thus reducing the volume of air entering and exiting my lungs.  Then I do 3 maximum pauses of 25, 30, and 35 seconds, another three minutes reduced breathing, three more maximum pauses,  3 minutes reduced breathing and three more pauses.  I am doing 4 sets a day, morning, noon, late afternoon, and before bed.  Soon I will increase this to 6 sets, and increase my very shallow breathing time and my Maximum Pauses.  My goal by the end of this 28 day fast is to have a Control Pause of 20 seconds or better, and a top Maximum Pause of 60 seconds.  

This sounds easy, but it's not and some mastery is involved, the mastery comes with consistent practice, concentration, patience, tenacity, commitment, and the will to get well.

After the juice fast I'll begin further training with my Buteyko Teacher, Christopher Drake.  The following two months my goal is Maximum Pauses of 90 seconds, and a Control Pause of 25.  I capitalize the pauses out of reverence for Dr. Buteyko, and their importance in healing my life. 

I'm writing this blog for people who have COPD.  Those with asthma can be CURED by the Buteyko Method, especially younger people whose lungs have not been damaged.  

On this planet asthma is an epidemic.  The incidence of COPD is on the rise, killing millions of people every year.  

Buteyko is not accepted by Western Medicine because it's a method of healing, not a pharmaceutical.  If I could invent a pill that does what the Buteyko Breathing Method does, I'd be a billionaire.  But I haven't and I'm not.  But I know Buteyko works to heal and improve well being, and that is one hell of a gift to the sick people living on planet Earth.  

Day 8 - Shitty Topic

Yes, I'm going to write about the un-talkable.  Everyone shits, but nobody talks about it.  I used the word shit in my first post and my girlfriend suggested I use another word.  I told her this was my voice, and these posts have to be me.  She smiled, she knows me well.  I could call it poop, or bowel movement, but I like s h i t   Definitely won't call them stools.  Imagine coming from a foreign country and trying to learn English. You've studied hard, you know about foot stools, bar stools, milk stools, and piano stools. Then one day you go to the doctor and he asks you if your stools are loose, or watery?  Or are they soft with shape?  What?  A stool is human feces?   A stool exits your butt and ends up in the toilet?   You've got to be kidding!

On a fast and cleanse you can't help but get in touch with your own shit.  I think everyone has a glance at what's in the toilet just before flushing.  During the fast it's good to get rid of as much shit as possible, all of it if you can.  Some people do daily enemas, but I'm passing on that in the early stage and relying on herbal laxatives. 

I had a colonic once to clean out the pipes.  I felt great after, but chatting to a guy in darkened room as he puts a tube up your ass is no fun.   I plan on a couple of colonics during this fast, so I'll make it a wonderfully basic human experience with a huge health upside.

I regress.  I'm nearing the end of day 4 of my juice fast and I sat on the can 5 times, count them F I V E.  I'm a very regular guy, I usually go 3 times a day, like you're supposed to if you eat 3 meals.  My lungs and heart ain't working too well, but it seems my plumbing is.  So, my point is, I got rid of a lot of shit today.  A lot of debris from my colon.  A lot of waste from my body.  I'm cleaning house. That's the purpose of the fast.  So I'm on track.

When I was a kid we had an outhouse at our summer cottage.  Lived in a semi-mansion in the city, but the summer home didn't have an indoor crapper.  It was all part of the summer Huck Finn adventure.

I'll probably continue to eliminate from the rear door a few more days, then the urge will end.  Then my skin and penis will be the main routes of getting rid of waste. I'll do enemas down the road.  Shall I post the gory details of that experience, or is that TOO MUCH INFORMATION?

Maybe next time we have to talk about shit, I can say I took a trip to the outhouse.  The word outhouse won't offend one single soul.

Day 7 - Breathing

7 days into the juice fast and I'm dreaming of food.  But for another 24 days I'll dream on, then feast on mashed cauliflower with a bit of butter, sea salt, and ground black pepper.

One thing there is an abundance of during a fast is time.  I've become acutely aware of the time I would normally spend shopping for food, preparing the food and eating it.    Lots of time on my hands now.  Time especially for my Buteyko practice.  And I've been reading and writing a lot more.  I'm devouring Ernest Hemingway's   A Moveable Feast, his sketches of life in Paris during the 1920's.  "I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, "Do not worry.  You have always written before and you will write now.  All you have to do is to write one true sentence.  Write the truest sentence that you know."  So finally I would write one true sentence and go from there.

I think that is the essence, the heart of Hemingway's art, his craft.  He didn't write long frilly sentences.   He wrote true simple declarative sentences.  And he strung declarative sentences together beautifully, creating character and story.

Don't you just love youtube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35vrg7a64ny

According to fasting experts from day 3 to 7 the "body embraces the fast, the body takes a much-needed rest, focusing all of its energies on cleansing organs and the lungs are in the process of being healed."   This is very good news for those with COPD.  My experience today is some relief in the lungs, there's some mucous, but lessening.  My nasal passages are quite clear upon rising.  A few weeks ago, I'd cough and blow my nose for a half hour in the morning.  So there is some relief.  I am still experiencing breathlessness.  I'd like to eradicate this symptom, so I can walk the streets of Paris and go to the cafes Hemingway haunted.

When I walk those French streets, I'll be thinking of a Russian, Konstantin Pavolich Buteyko.  It will be his genius that will make my healing and travel possible. One day his discovery will be recognized by medical science as one of the greatest breakthroughs ever. Breathe less. http://www.buteyko.com/method/buteyko/index_buteyko.html  

No one in the world understands breath better than Dr. Buteyko's disciple, Christopher Drake. 

Why rewrite that which has already been written so eloquently.

http://cpdrake.googlepages.com/meditation,yoga&buteyko

Day 6 - Skin And The Spice Of Life

Subtle changes are occuring.  I feel an ease of movement, I walk around the house with less breathlessness and effort.  Two more daily regimes to tell you about.  I've spiced up my life.  Curcumin is a spice revered in India for centuries, Ayurvedic medicine calls it the king of spices. Studies are being conducted for its effect for treating cancer and arthritis.  It's a powerful anti-inflammatory, and since one of the underlying causes of COPD is inflammation, I take a 1/4 teaspoon of the spice in hot water 4 times a day.  I drink the concoction around the time I do my Buteyko practice.  I'm doing 4 sets of the breathing exercises, with 3 maximum pauses now of 20, 25, and 30 seconds.  Next week I'll increase the pauses to 25, 30, and 35.  Slowly but surely my Control Pause will rise. 

http://www.flex-protex-suppply.com/curcumin.html

  

I've also been pampering my skin.  Skin is the only organ we can see and touch. If the skin looks and feels healthy, there's a good chance your insides are that way too. Skin is our largest eliminative organ and it works overtime during a fast. Before my morning shower I dry brush.  It's the best way to clean your skin and give it a healthy rosy glow.  Use a natural fiber brush with a long handle and brush from the bottom of your feet and hands and everything in between  

The brushing exfoliates and detoxifies your skin and it feels blushingly fantastic.

http://www.naturopathicfoundations.ca/pdf/nf_dry_skin_brushing.pdf

Day 5 - Happy Brain And Healing

48 hours into my juice fast.  I feel the body relaxing a bit due to my Buteyko practice and the holiday I've given my much over worked organism from eating, digesting, and eliminating.  

Mucous is still evident in my lungs and is expelled randomly.  Mucous in my nasal passages has cleared up a lot, and I'm hoping this will spread to my lungs. Breathlessness is still my constant companion.  The absence of this companion is what I seek.  

We spend 75% of our lives in an upright position.  The slant board is another thing I do to assist my body's healing. Inversion therapy intuitively made a lot of sense to me.  Everyone feels the effects of gravity, the pull is always downward, a river flows down, the force is relentless.  Inverting the body to an upside down position counteracts that force.  A billions bats can't be wrong.  

Most people with COPD would find it too difficult to hang upside down, the slant board works beautifully.  I got a 2 X 12  seven foot piece of board and covered it with a yoga mat.  I put one end on a chair and the other on the floor.  I lay on the board on my back head downward and relax.  More than half of my body is now above my brain and heart.  The body experiences relief from the daily patterns of compression, pull to the organs, muscle, blood flow, and oxygen distribution throughout the body.  The brain is nourished.   The quickening force of every organ of the body comes from the brain.  So keep your brain happy and well fed - it's good news for the entire body. 

http://www.sunandmoonstudio.com/articles/headstand.html       

Day 4 - Ode To The Glory Of Grapes

The history of grapes is as old as the history of mankind. Grapes grew wild for hundreds of thousands of years and were first cultivated by the Mesopotamians in 6,000 BC. Wine making was the primary use for grapes, The Greeks even had a god of the vine - Dionysus.

Since grapes have such a noble history, and because I love wine, I chose grape juice as my principle drink during the fast.  There's also some sensible reasoning behind this decision.  Johanna Brandt wrote a book entitled The Grape Cure, where she documents her cancer cure by a diet of only grapes and grape juice.  So, if there is any cancer lurking in my body, perhaps my fast will eradicate it.  Asthma and heart disease also benefit from grapes, and since I have both of these conditions too let's rock 'n roll.  

Today, March 4, 2009 is the first day of my juice fast.  It will end 28 days hence on April 1.   As I begin, my thinking is a bit foggy, my breathing slightly improved, and I am full of inspiration and optimism.   My cough is hardly noticeable.  Early today I merely cleared my throat, and a long stringy bit of sticky mucous came up from my bronchial tubes.  The cleansing has begun, one step on the path 28 days long.  I can't wait to see where it end. 

Day 3 - For Whom The Bells Toll

We in the west have been conditioned to sleep more than we actually require.  The amount of sleep needed is different for everyone, but if sleep is deep and restful less is required.  Due to hyperventilation, my sleep is not refreshing.  I do not rise feeling energized, in fact when I wake I have very little energy.  This is due in part to lack of oxygen, but length of sleep time is included in the equation. 

 

Part of my experiment is to play with my sleep habits. 

I used to wake and immediately begin coughing.  I'd barely have one eye open and the coughing would begin.  The coughing was exhausting which would further effect my energy level.  A brilliant Buteyko practitioner I was working with instructed me to sleep less, and break up my sleep pattern with Buteyko breathing. He deduced that the cough was a result of too much hyperventilating at night. He also told me to never sleep until my stomach was empty.  So, you see how my late night Henry Vlll eating and drinking came into play.  I would always go to bed while digesting food.  The practitioner had me eat no later than 6 PM and go to bed at midnight, set my alarm for 3 AM and do a short session of Buteyko Breathing, go back to bed and rise at 6 AM.  After only one night my cough was gone.

When trying to slow the progression of this disease, and to restore a sense of bodily well-being use every arrow in your quiver; diet, exercise, Buteyko practice, and regulate sleep patterns.  So the bells toll for me at 3 and 6 AM.  

Famous India Guru Muktananda used to say, "Eat less, sleep less, talk less."  All of this advice is good, I would add "love more."  

So I am on a juice fast and I will economize sleep too, and I'll love my body even though it's functioning poorly.  Better functioning poorly than not at all.  I'm grateful for this period of healing and rejuvenation.  

Day 2 - Another Glass Of Wine, Please

I started my two day transition to a total liquid diet.  Self examination and my history reveals that I am totally addicted to food and wine.  I have a predilection towards the Henry Vlll lifestyle, as I am very much the carnal beast.   I don't eat and drink from morning until night, but gluttony does take over during the evening hours.  I love mornings and I am lightly satisfied with coffee and a small nutritious offering.  Lunch is light too.  But ah, night, that's where my Henry takes center stage.  

I have a hot bath, then get into my of cozy pajamas, flannel in the winter, cotton in warmer weather.  Open a nice chilled bottle of Chardonnay and prepare the evening meal, which usually consists of red meat, leave the fat on please, or chicken, and some steamed or roasted vegetables.

So a juice fasts strips you of all your eating and drinking habits, and you are left with a stark day of sipping juices.  No cooking, no eating, no spirits.  Sixty percent of ones bodily energy is spent on digesting and eliminating food, so the energy level increases, so too do thoughts of food.

With the elimination of course food, the body rests, heals and purifies.  In longer fasts, the purification is cell deep.  The purification is known as autolysis or self-consumption.  In The Eating Gorilla Comes In Peace, it's stated, "The stress of fasting favours healthy or growing cells.  Defective cells do not function well under the stress; they die shortly and are eliminated.  Their usable nutrients are recycled to regenerate other cells, while their wastes are eliminated.  Thus, the body literally "eats" its own wastes and diseased or dying cells, and it fully eliminates whatever it cannot consume.

Autolysis is a spontaneous and innately wise, or life supporting,, as the healing of a wound.  For this reason one can fast for long periods without impairing one's health but rather enhancing it, and without damaging healthy cells but rather rejuvenating them and building new ones."  

So the first day of my transition will consist of an apple with cream for lunch, and some brown rice and green tea for dinner.  Air is the primary food, so I will continue with 4 sessions of my Buteyko practice and build up as to 5, and 6 during the course of my fast.   Noon of this day and I am optimistic as to the outcome.  I look forward to walking freely and checking out the glory of springtime.   There is a beautiful one line poem about spring, "I want to do to you what springtime does to the cherry trees." 

I want to feel vital and full of sap.