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.