Pain Management

If you are experiencing any pain in any part of your body, it is an indication that some GUILT (regret over something done or not done + anger directed towards self that seeks punishment) is being PROCESSED (some energy is being integrated and some is being released).

A simple tool of pain-management is deep breathing. With every inhale inflate your abdomen like a balloon and with every exhale feel the balloon deflating. Visualize all the pain being released with each exhale.

Offer compassion (unconditional love + deep understanding) and gratitude to the cells/ tissues/ organs in pain.

Active Vs. Passive Healing

I call myself a 'Holistic Healer'; however, my role is more like a Software technologist than a Hardware specialist. I do not encourage PASSIVE receiving of healing ('someone /something shall heal me' paradigm). Instead I assist people in ACTIVE healing, by which they update the software inside them ('I am empowered to heal myself' paradigm). The process involves active participation in their healing; which happens from deep within and projects itself in an automatically upgraded hardware. 

The software determines the output of the hardware....... 

What kind of healing appeals to you and why???

Food

The present times are paradoxical in more ways than one; but one particular area where the paradox is most apparent is the area of FOOD....:)

Yes, on one hand we hear of shortage of food; but on the other hand our food-stores are overflowing with bottled, packaged, canned, carton-ed, frozen and fresh foodstuff. All kinds of imported and desi foodstuffs vie for shelf space.

On the one hand, we talk about escalating food prices and on the other hand our shopping baskets/ pantries/ refrigerators overflow with food stuff.

Every nook and corner of our cities has more than one eatery; more and more people are eating out- splurging more on food.

We gorge ourselves on extra food and then look for ways to lose weight.

We expend our energy on digesting the extra food that we eat and then pop in energy enhancing boosters.

We don’t have time (and inclination) to prepare healthy food and then we lament about everyone being hooked to junk food.

We buy, consume, store and throw more food than ever. But how can we resolve this paradox? How can we come out of this box? The solution is very simple. We have to start ‘thinking’ and asking the right questions.

For starters, let us ask ourselves, "why do I buy and store so much food stuff when there is no shortage of food in the market; nothing is going to run away or fly off the shelves? Why do I need to eat so much and store it in my body, when it can easily be stored outside it? Why do I eat when I am not even hungry? What need of mine am I feeding? What emptiness am I filling with food?"

Healing

In my practice as a life coach, I come across many people, who lead a very good life with no practical problems (no health issues, no money issues, happy children, loving husband) and yet, they suffer from anxiety, panic attacks, and sometimes depression. Such people are usually very aware (and sometimes they themselves are healers) but no alternative therapy seems to work either. So, what is the solution?

As I have seen it with them (and with myself), this happens when we let ‘un-founded/ exaggerated’ fears control our very existence. Fear, of course, carries a clear indication that there are still some soul-lessons to be learnt (unassimilated strands to be healed). But sometimes, despite knowing everything, we run away from our fears, and convince ourselves that we are unable to deal with our anxiety. We don’t allow ourselves to ‘see’ the wonderful, all-knowing residing deity- our Spirit Spark.

Anxiety is caused by fear of being out of control (not being able to control life). The healing begins when we allow ourselves to go into our feelings and look for the underlying origin, as soon as the fear surfaces and we begin to panic. (In my case, I was carrying ‘not good enough/ not enough’ paradigm within me.)

Sometimes panic attacks come when we believe that we are going to get caught by others for not being who they think we are. (Reality not matching the projection/ fear of exposure of true feelings/ inability to accept oneself)

Depression stems from a total lack of connection with who we are. It creates a un-fill-able void inside us. We try to fill it with food/ drinks/ addictions/ material possessions/ clinging/ wanting more of everything; but nothing helps.

Most people, who suffer from anxiety, panic attacks, and depression carry very strong belief systems by which they judge everything that happens to them (I know because I have been there). And unless we change our belief system, no therapy (however effective) can work. The power lies in accepting that you have limiting beliefs and work towards changing them.

The process is slow, but well worth it!! 

Healing

Coming back to our understanding of dimensions and relating them to healing........I understand that all those healing modalities that focus primarily on body (physical healing) dwell in the realm of 1-D consciousness; the ones that include the mind (physical+ mental healing) dwell in the realm of 2-D consciousness; while the ones that also take emotions into consideration (physical+ Mental+ emotional healing) are rooted in 3-D consciousness; and the ones that include Spirit (physical + mental + emotional + soul healing) dwell in 4-D realm. After that realm, all healing is self-healing, which keeps happening automatically, just as everything else in the universe happens and eventually there is no disease- as there is no need for it....:))

A consciousness rooted beyond the 4-D understands that when we heal our mind our body heals; when we heal our emotions, our mind+ body heals; when we heal our soul, our emotions+ our mind+ our body heals......

And if we only concentrate on healing our body; nothing heals!!

Body is the canvas where the un-assimilated (un-healed) soul-strands express themselves.....play themselves out through dis-ease. The cause is always present at the soul level.....if that is healed, all is healed!!

And the power to choose, as always, lies within us!!

Juicing

Until I got married, I didn’t have much interest in cooking, and hence, didn’t learn much from my mother. But thanks to my Bengali-in-laws and recipe books, over the years I became a seasoned/ versatile cook. I love to experiment/ innovate and generally be creative with food.

Recently, ever since I understood the concept of ‘live food’, I find myself becoming more interested in assembling salads than doing real cooking; and for past few days, since I have discovered the joys of juicing…..I feel ecstatic and excited about creating dark green, light green, red, yellow juices. I feel the joy a little child feels while mixing colors in water…….my juicer does that for me and I happily drown glass-fuls of color…..Wow! It couldn’t get better than this…..or could it?

Meal In- Meal Out

Some time ago a friend of mine said, “I have become a medical intuitive. I can look at people’s faces and diagnose if they are constipated.” As I looked at her in admiration, she guffawed, “It is very simple. If someone is not smiling, s/he must be constipated. Can’t you recognize a constipated look?” I laughed with her then, but when I look at so many unsmiling faces around me, I often think of her words. By her definition, almost everyone is constipated.

My mother, who suffers from chronic constipation, tells me that in her younger days, everyone, including her, regularly moved bowels twice a day. If someone did it only once, s/he was given a laxative.

As I mull over her words, they make sense to me, and when I learn through the Internet that the digestive health's thumb-rule is 'one meal in-one meal out', I understand the reason behind two bowel movements; in our ancestral household, people ate two meals a day!

Going by this thumb-rule, most of us are constipated. We eat three meals a day (if not more) but pass the poop only once a day (or on alternate days!)

I am reminded of our pet dog, Catherine. We gave her two meals and took her out twice a day. The day she couldn’t move her bowels, she would refuse to eat; and that’s really something for a Labrador! Instead, she would go around looking for some grass. She always knew where to find it, even though we moved several houses/ cities with her! That dear dog followed her instincts to add roughage to her diet (just as all dogs do); she intuitively knew that she must not stuff more food into her system, if she had not emptied it .

Small babies too easily follow the meal in-meal out formula. What happens when we grow up? Why don’t we pass regular stools as our elders used to or as our babies and our dogs do? Regular here means; Meal in -Meal out!

Pain

Whenever we experience pain (whether physical or emotional), it tells us how other beings experience pain. It also tells us that sometimes we contribute to others’ pain (human, animal, plants, mineral), just as others (people, animals, bacteria, virus, fungi, chemicals etc) contribute to our pain. At such times, it is good to ask for forgiveness and offer forgiveness to the collective-consciousness.

Pain is never ‘personal’, though it may seem so. Our pain is just a small trailer of what beings do to each other. It is a sentient experience; given to us to teach us compassion.

Are we learning this lesson from our pain? Or are we waiting for a bigger dose? The choice, as always, rests with us…….:)

Food- Fundas

I was born in a vegetarian family; in fact our entire neighborhood was vegetarian.  Until I joined college, I didn't personally know anyone who ate 'animals'.

In college, I made a friend whose family cooked and ate chicken. These chickens were raised on their own farm. On Sundays, the male members of the family cooked some birds (usually male, who couldn’t produce eggs) on an open pit (chulha), in the backyard, using utensils kept exclusively for this purpose. My friend always awaited Sundays with great anticipation. In fact, she would sing such praises for the ‘heavenly’ taste that I became intrigued enough to join her for lunch one Sunday. However, neither the look of the dish, nor its aroma did anything to make me appreciate its taste. I dipped a tiny piece of chapati in the gravy and could barely swallow it. The entire family laughed at my ‘brahmin’ background and I thanked God for sparing me from puking out!

That day, I thought that I was done with eating any meat for life. But when I fell in love with a Bengali boy, my love encompassed the entire package of family, language, and cuisine; and what is a Bengali cuisine without Maach (fish) and Mangsho (meat)?

I relished eating, cooking and serving all kinds of meats (and when I say all kinds, I mean ALL kinds) until I got into spirituality and began questioning killing someone’s life to sustain my life. I also began wondering about the ‘food farms’ where animals were kept and killed in most pathetic and filthy conditions. I learnt about the hormones that were injected/ fed to fatten them.

While I decided not to eat any meat, I couldn’t stop cooking it. After all the rest of my family couldn’t think of a meal without ‘protein’, as they call it. And much to my discomfort, I found that at times I too craved for it. Sometimes I resisted this craving but sometimes I gave in to it. I justified my actions by saying, ‘I mustn’t deny my body.’ But the problem was that I couldn’t distinguish between the language of my body from that of my mind.

This see-saw continued until one fine day when our 19 year old son read ‘The Auto-biography of a Yogi’, and gave up cigarettes, alcohol and meats- on one fine evening- just like that!

His will-power and resolve made me strengthen my resolve. But I still had to cook for my husband. Since I completely believed in not imposing my own path on any other member of my family, I did my duty calmly, with detachment. My pain/ unrest came from the fact that I was still confused about ‘Right Nutrition’.

That’s when I attended a residential program on ‘Re-nutrition’ conducted by the fire-brand food crusader Dr. Vijaya Venkat from Mumbai. She convinced us that while animal food in any form, including dairy products, was definitely a no-no, there were other culprits like white sugar, white flour, regular salt, and water. I agreed with all other items whole-heartedly, but water??? That was a bit too much to agree to, even though Mrs. Venkat was armed with a whole lot of convincing research to back her claim!

Thus started my experiments with gluten-free, dairy-free diets! My kitchen was a crazy place as I cooked different things for each resident.

I braved on despite being the odd one out in all social-dos- including family get-togethers. But I was still not clear about ‘right nutrition’.

As the years passed and I became more aware of ‘Consciousness’, all my reasons for not eating animal food fell by the way side. Plants too have life. Vegetarian food too is laced with chemicals. The energy of greed is very much present in the way grains/ vegetables/ fruits/ nuts are grown. Not a single food item/ condiment in my kitchen was free from all that I was shunning by not eating meats/ dairy etc.

Luckily, I lived in houses with kitchen gardens and fruit orchards; so ‘home-grown’ fresh food became my latest savior. But I couldn't grow everything, could I?

Recently, in 2013, as though by magic, a great deal of clarity has dawned on me, about many subjects, including food/ nutrition; and it has truly shattered many of my older beliefs.

My new beliefs are based upon the simple premise/ truth that LIFE CAN ONLY BE SUSTAINED BY LIFE. Hence, we need to ‘kill/ destroy’ some life in order to live. There are no two ways about it. BUT, and that is a big but; we can choose the ‘least-violent’ ways to do it.

While we can't ask an 'Eskimo' to not eat sea-life (poor chap has no other choice),  we can choose (without putting ourselves in a labeled-box) to eat the least-damaging 'live' foods.

As of now sprouts, fruits, nuts and seeds top my list of favorite foods!! What about you???

However, my personal experience teaches me that we can't suddenly change our dietary habits. It is a gradual process. As the body takes its own time to re-adjust itself. After all, we can't change a 'coal-fed production unit' into a 'nuclear-fuel-fed plant' over-night! Can we??

Put On Your Dancing Shoes

Many of you would have observed that if we sit/ lie down without any movement whatsoever (as in meditation/ deep sleep) our body becomes very stiff. So much so that at times it becomes very difficult and pretty painful to dis-entangle our limbs. The rigor-mortis that sets in after death is primarily because of a total lack of movement. 

Having understood (and experienced) that, it would be sensible to surmise that all body 'stiffness' can be relieved by movement! And what kind of movement is the MOST enjoyable not just for our body but also for our mind/ soul/ spirit (something that raises our spirits) and which can be easily done either in the privacy of our homes or in full public view...........at any time of the day or night.....Yes Sir, you got it right!! It is DANCING!

What stops us from dancing everyday? It is not only good for our muscles, joints, mood etc but also helps us reduce extra-body weight..........That too in such a fun way!!!

Today onward I have decided to move and shake, every day, day after day, and have a ball!!! Are you game too?? 

Food For Thought

Whether we like it or not, food remains the central core of our existence in this world. Most of our precious life-energies are used in procuring (which includes working to earn money to procure food), storing, preparing, consuming, digesting, assimilating, and eliminating food. Yes, what we eliminate becomes food for someone else. In fact, it amuses me no end how we humans- who think no end of themselves- are being used as ‘food-processing’ units by some worms, whom we call the lowliest of the lowlies!!

Those dung-eating worms must be having the last laugh, because no human can ever stop working for them. We HAVE to produce their food. We are designed for that. And we do this job for free; only to ensure our own survival! How interesting!!

Did someone say there are no free lunches (or breakfast or dinner)? Ask the worms. They are indeed smarter than we humans are.....:))

Now, the question arises that if God/ the Creator has taken such great care to produce non-stop food for these so-called scum-bugs........how about us- the humans- who are made in HIS own image? Won't our father/mother God- The Creator have thought of our sustenance?

Does it make any sense that the most intelligent of all species on Earth- the Divine child himself- is simply running around in circles, wasting the precious life-energy not in any creative pursuit (something befitting his stature) but in worrying about filling his stomach?????

We only have to remind ourselves that we are an INTEGRAL part of God's creation- The Nature- and The Nature provides for everyone's nutritional needs in plenty.

Who will call us 'intelligent' if we threaten/ destroy/ dwindle our own Source of Nourishment???? Will a dung-worm do that? Will it kill/ infect/ destroy a human (his food-producing machine)? NO............because it BELIEVES in Live and Let Live.........Something that each one of us needs to learn, in order to access Universal Abundance...........:)))

Food for Thought...♥

Dental Hygeine

The best, most important and simplest, but often neglected dental hygiene practice involves vigorously rinsing our mouth with plain tap water, (after) every time we eat something.......In other words, it is a good practice to clean our mouth (pearlies and all) after every use.......just as we rinse the dishes we eat in....The sooner we do it, easier is the task...but if we leave it for later (before going to bed, after getting up from bed) the food begins to putrefy and stench becomes over-powering......exactly what happens if we leave un-rinsed dishes for too long........:)

Freedom from Food

As I continue deleting various 'shoulds' from my life, I feel progressively free-er...........For example, I am working towards achieving freedom from 'shoulds/ musts/ have to' etc in my kitchen/dining space... My latest mantra is being in complete resonance with my body, listening to its needs and spontaneously responding to those needs in love, without wondering about what should I eat, when should I eat, what kind of food is nutritious etc.  

I eat, when I feel HUNGRY and not when the clock (family) says, it's time to eat... I have understood that when I respond to the hunger call of my body, the body can digest anything and everything, and also extract optimum nutrients from the food....but if I eat without being hungry, even the best of foods just rot inside my GI tract, as the body reluctantly processes them. My cells are just like me; when I am asked to do things that I am not really ready to do, I do them reluctantly and the results speak for my reluctance/ resistance. 

Such a simple lesson and still it is difficult to follow. 

The problem comes when I become 'responsible' for my family members' gustatory needs, without 'being in their skin', so to say. It is well nigh impossible for me to be in touch/ resonance with their body's hunger pangs; after all each body is unique with unique requirements. Asking each member to eat at the same time (hunger or no hunger) is like charging all the laptops and mobiles of the family at the same time, whether they need to be charged or not....

What if each member of the family (except for children below 13 and elders above 80) were responsible for their own dietary needs; just as they are responsible for charging their own mobiles/ laptops/ other electronic equipment? How simple would life become!!

I have found a do-able formula. I stock my fridge with a lot of fruits and salads (cleaned/ washed/ peeled/ diced). and then there is always some bread/ cheese/ butter/ eggs etc. in the pantry. I cook some food by 1200 hrs; and am also available (since I am a home bird) for any requests for special food/ nimbu-paani/ fruit-juice/ lassi / green tea etc.

As of now, my family consists of just two of us (two body-mechanisms with two very different body-clocks and food preferences) so it is rather easy for me. More the members more complicated it can get!!! Until each one VOLUNTEERS or WILLINGLY abides by the Freedom philosophy.....Freedom for All!!! 

As for me, I am indeed fortunate that my husband is a willing volunteer...............and he values my freedom as much as he values his own..........:))

Love your Medicine

If you want medicines to work for you-most efficiently- You must GREET them and love them. 

None of the medicines will work without this. You must greet them and love them. If you stand idly by, fearful of them, hoping they will work - letting them enter your body, letting them take over something you should be participating in - they will simply lie dormant. You must greet them (for them to work at all).

Some of the things I tell you here may sound silly and unscientific. However, the truth remains the truth, whatever you choose to believe.