A Look at Traditional Tibetan Medicine: Part 2

In Part 1 of this 2-part article on Traditional Tibetan Medicine, I discussed the history of this ancient form of medicine.

Today I’ll take a look at how it works.

Tibet’s culture is deeply embedded in the Buddhist way. Accordingly, Traditional Tibetan Medicine is also deeply informed by Buddhism.

Because of this, Tibetan Medicine understands that good health is attained not just by being physically healthy, but also by having a healthy mind as well.

Based on the centuries-old Buddhist study of the mind, Tibetan Medicine gives priority to factors of psychological and spiritual development in its definition of health. It seeks to understand and explain the nature and reason for the suffering people experience in their lives.

It teaches acceptance of and gives meaning to the cycle of birth, sickness, old age, and death we all encounter. Common experiences such as not getting what we want, not wanting what we get, being separated from whomever or whatever is dear to us, and being joined with people and things we dislike becomes a basis of spiritual understanding and growth.

Tibetan Medicine explains how hatred, anger and aggression, ignorance and incomprehension and a materialist view of the world result in states of mind which are at the root of our suffering, and how our habitual patterns of thinking and behaving are the primary cause of illness.

It also asserts that through study and spiritual practice an understanding and awareness can gradually be achieved which transcends that suffering.

Tibetan Medicine attempts to help people become aware of the process of physiological, spiritual and psychological evolution as it originates from what people do, what people say, and what people think.

Every action sows its seed in the mind and will eventually ripen in accordance with its nature, and no experience is seen as causeless. The transient, ever-changing nature of all things is embraced. The conclusion which is reached from this view is the interdependent nature of all things. The highest value is placed on the attainment of compassion and what is termed loving kindness.

Because of this philosophy, I think it is safe to say that Traditional Tibetan Medicine is a deeply spiritual medicine.

Regarding developing good physical health, Tibetan medical theory states that it is necessary to maintain balance in the body’s three principles of function: rLüng (pron. Loong), mKhris-pa (pron. Tree-pa), and Bad-kan (pron. Pay-gen) often mistranslated as phlegm.

Lung is the source of the body’s ability to circulate physical substances (e.g. blood), energy (e.g. nervous system impulses), and the non-physical (e.g. thoughts). In embryological development, the mind’s expression of materialism is manifested as the system of rLüng. There are five distinct subcategories of rLüng each with specific locations and functions: Srog-’Dzin rLüng, Gyen-rGyu rLüng, Khyab-Byed rLüng, Me-mNyam rLüng, Thur-Sel rLüng.

mKhris-pa is characterized by the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of heat, and is the source of many functions such as thermoregulation, metabolism, liver function and discriminating intellect. In embryological development, the mind’s expression of aggression is manifested as the system of mKhris-pa. There are five distinct subcategories of mKhris-pa each with specific locations and functions: ‘Ju-Byed mKhris-pa, sGrub-Byed mKhris-pa, mDangs-sGyur mKhris-pa, mThong-Byed mKhris-pa, mDog-Sel mKhris-pa.

Bad-kan is characterized by the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of cold, and is the source of many functions such as aspects of digestion, the maintenance of physical structure, joint health and mental stability. In embryological development, the mind’s expression of ignorance is manifested as the system of Bad-kan. There are five distinct subcategories of Bad-kan each with specific locations and functions: rTen-Byed Bad-kan, Myag-byed Bad-kan, Myong-Byed Bad-kan, Tsim-Byed Bad-kan, ‘Byor-Byed Bad-kan.

In practice, the Tibetan Medical Doctor begins by interviewing the patient and finding out the pertinent medical history.

The doctor then does a urine analysis, in which the urine sample is examined. In the urine analysis the doctor looks for such things as the color of the specimen and its odor, and then after vigorous stirring, the size, color, amount, and persistence of bubbles, and any deposits. From this the doctor can begin to confirm the nature of the illness, the presence of infection and the localization of the illness among other things.

After that, the doctor feels the pulses in order to perform pulse diagnosis. In pulse diagnosis, the doctor is feeling twelve separate pulses – six distinct pulses at the radial artery of each wrist. The doctor feels for such things as the width, depth, strength, speed and quality of the pulse. Each of those factors when understood properly allows the doctor to clearly define the illness, its location, hidden complications and its etiology.

Once diagnosis is made, treatment can begin. The first consideration in treatment is the principle that all illness ultimately originates in the mind. This does not mean that all illness is psychological or psychosomatic.

Instead, it means that due to ignorance people misperceive the nature of reality and act in ways which create suffering such as illness. Given this basic principle, when treating an illness physicians first begin by recommending specific behavioral and lifestyle modifications.

If this is not sufficient, then physicians work at the level of dietary therapy. If these are not enough to cure the problem, physicians employ herbal medicines or, if needed, physical
therapies such as acupuncture.

Tibetan Medicine believes that the treatment ultimately must fit the patient; that is, treatment must be formulated in a manner which can and will be effective for that individual.

Behavioral and lifestyle modifications can include meditation instruction, spiritual advice, counseling, exercise, or the reorganization of habitual patterns such as sleep habits and eating schedules.

Herbal medicine is a big part of Traditional Tibetan Medicine. It utilizes up to two thousand types of plants, forty animal species, and fifty minerals. Herbal treatments range from simple to very complex, using anywhere from 3 to 150 herbs per formula. Each formula or set of formulas is prescribed to fit the manifestation of the disease and the evolving condition of the individual patient. As a result, herbal medicines often need to be modified at each visit.

If the behavioral modification, diet therapy, and herbal medicine are not sufficient to cure the illness, physicians can also employ therapies such as acupuncture, moxabustion, cupping, massage, and inhalation therapy.

A Look at Traditional Tibetan Medicine: Part 1

We are back from our two-week hiatus to continue this series on the Roots of Medicine. The last article before the break was a two-part look at Ayurvedic Medicine.

I continue today with a look at another traditional system of medicine, Traditional Tibetan Medicine.

I had my first in-depth look at traditional Tibetan Medicine a number of years ago, when I was living in San Diego and went to a presentation given by Dr. Yeshi Dhonden at the VA hospital in town.

Dr. Dhonden is a practitioner of Tibetan Medicine and the former personal physician to the Dalai Lama.

Dr. Dhonden was invited by the VA hospital to present and to do grand rounds. The grand rounds at the hospital that day took place in the auditorium, to a very large audience of health providers. The grand rounds consisted of doctors at the VA bringing some of their most difficult cases to the auditorium and having Dr. Dhonden give his professional opinion about their health status.

One of the primary tools in Tibetan Medicine is urine analysis, though not in the standard way as known in Western Medicine, as a UA. In Dr. Dhonden’s approach to urine analysis, the patient would pee into a cup, and Dr. Dhonden would then make his diagnosis by observing the urine.

I can’t remember what he diagnosed for the patients based on his urine analysis, but I recall the treating doctors, and the audience as a whole, sitting in awe of this man of such deep wisdom.

Besides his urine analysis, he also used pulse diagnosis, which is a form of diagnosis also used in Chinese Medicine. Once he formed his diagnosis, Dr. Dhonden then was able to make a prognosis and make recommendations as to what the patient could do to improve their health.

So what is Tradititonal Tibetan Medicine?

It is a centuries-old traditional medical system that employs a complex approach to diagnosis, incorporating techniques such as pulse analysis and urinalysis, and utilizes behavior and dietary modification, medicines composed of natural materials (e.g., herbs and minerals) and physical therapies (e.g. Tibetan acupuncture, moxabustion, etc.) to treat illness.

The Tibetan medical system is based upon a synthesis of the Indian (Ayurveda), Persian (Unani), Greek, indigenous Tibetan, and Chinese medical systems, and it continues to be practiced in Tibet, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Ladakh, Siberia, China and Mongolia, as well as more recently in parts of Europe and North America. It embraces the traditional Buddhist belief that all illness ultimately results from the “three poisons” of the mind: ignorance, attachment and aversion.

Traditional Tibetan Medicine addresses the well being of the whole individual in the observation, healing and prevention of physical, mental, and energetic imbalances.

By synthesizing knowledge from various medical systems, Tibetans created a approach to medical science drawn from thousands of years of accumulated empirical knowledge and intuition about the nature of health and illness.

Centuries ago, before Buddhism entered Tibet, Tibetans like all ancient people had a significant degree of medical knowledge. According to traditional sources, in the beginning of the 4th century many new ideas regarding medicine began to enter the country. At first influences came from India in the form of what is now called Ayurvedic medicine, as well as more spiritual and psychologically based systems from Buddhist and other sources.

Around the 7th-8th centuries the Tibetan government began sponsoring conferences where doctors skilled in the medical systems of China, Persia, India and Greece presented and debated their ideas regarding health and the treatment of illness. Those with superior abilities in the diagnosis, treatment and understanding of illness were invited to stay and contribute to the country’s medical knowledge base.

In the 11th century, this knowledge was codified into a unique system containing a synthesis of the principals of physical and psychological medicine imbued with a Buddhist spiritual understanding. This understanding formed a foundation for Tibetan medicine and benefited patients and doctors alike. It acknowledged how health and illness resulted both from the relationship between the mind and the body and people’s connectedness to the natural world and sense of spirituality.

Next time: A Look at how Traditional Tibetan Medicine works.

Ayurvedic Medicine: The Oldest System of Medicine, Part 2

In the last article on the roots of healing, I discussed how over the eons, the art and science of healing, as it becomes ingrained in a society’s way of being, becomes more systematized and formalized.

One such system, and the oldest system of medicine on the planet, is Ayurvedic Medicine. In the last article, Ayurvedic Medicine: The Oldest System of Medicine, Part 1, I talked about its origins and roots.

Today I will continue with the discussion, with Part 2 about Ayurvedic Medicine.

(Please note: After today’s column, I – and the Low Density Lifestyle website – will be on hiatus for the next two weeks. So this is the last article until Tuesday, Aug. 31).

As I mentioned in the previous article, Ayurveda stems from the Vedas, the ancient classical sacred texts of Hinduism. It is a medicine based on balance, and is a medicine of the body, mind and soul. It is closely associated with the other Hindu disciplines of yoga and tantra, which together are seen as the three paths of Vedic knowledge.

Ayurveda believes that building a healthy metabolic system, attaining good digestion, and proper excretion leads to vitality.

When people think of Ayurveda, they often think of the three Doshas: vatta, pita and kapha. According to Ayurveda, these three Doshas (literally that which deteriorates) are regulatory principles that are important for health, because when they are in a balanced state, the body is healthy, and when imbalanced, the body has diseases.

The three doshas stem from the five great elements: Prithvi – earth; Aap – water; Tej – fire; Vaayu – air; and Akash – ether. Ayurvedic principles hold that all of these compose the Universe, including the human body.

In addition, Chyle or plasma (called rasa dhatu), blood (rakta dhatu), flesh (mamsa dhatu), fat (medha dhatu), bone (asthi dhatu), marrow (majja dhatu), and semen or female reproductive tissue (shukra dhatu) are held to be the seven primary constituent elements of the body.

The doshas are comprised of the different elements. Vata is air and space, or wind; pitta is fire and water, or bile; and kapha is water and earth, or phlegm.

The Ayurvedic doctor uses a number of diagnostic approaches in order to determine the right diagnosis and understand which of the doshas is most predominant. This will then help the doctor to determine the best course of treatment.

This is actually standard protocol in any system of medicine, and what separates a system of medicine from just an approach or modality.

In a system of medicine, the doctor first makes a diagnosis, and from there determines what the best treatment principles and course of treatment is.

The difference between Ayurvedic, and any other traditional system of medicine, and modern/Western medicine, is that with Ayurvedic, diagnosis and treatment is both an art and science, and as an art it is known that sometimes the body will work in mysterious ways.

Whereas with modern/Western medicine, diagnosis and treatment has had the art taken out of it, and has become a technological science that attempts to reduce things down to absolutes, which then allows no room for the mysteries of healing.

In fact, in the modern/Western way of medicine, the mysteries of healing are best to be avoided at all costs.

And so, with diagnosis for the Ayurvedic doctor, the patient is to be questioned and all five senses are to be employed. Ayurvedic texts recommend a tenfold examination of the patient.

The qualities to be judged are: constitution, abnormality, essence, stability, body measurements, diet suitability, psychic strength, digestive capacity, physical fitness and age. Hearing is used to observe the condition of breathing and speech.

The study of the vital pressure points, or marma, is of special importance – it is the trauma science described in Ayurveda. There are 107 different spots described and located on the body surface which produce different signs and symptoms. With respect to the underlying anatomical structures, the symptoms vary according to blunt or penetrating trauma. The severity of the symptoms and signs also depend on whether the injury is exactly on the marma point or slightly around it.

Treatment includes diet and herbs; herbs may be a misnomer, because the Ayurvedic herbal pharmacy includes vegetables, animals and minerals.

In regards to the vegetable part of the herbal pharmacy, warming herbs such as cardamon, cinnamon, tumeric and pepper are very popular. They are said to strengthen the digestion.

Animal products include milk, bones, and gallstones. And minerals used include sulfur, arsenic, lead, copper sulfate and gold.

Some minerals employed by Ayurvedic medicine are toxic, but traditionally the toxicity of these materials are believed to be reduced through purification processes such as samskaras, which involve prayers as well as physical pharmacy techniques.

At least one scientific study has looked at the process of purification of toxic substances in Ayurveda with lab mice. The study looked at aconite, which is used in Ayurvedic pharmacy formulations, and is an extremely lethal substance in its crude and unprocessed form.

The study compared aconite in its crude and unprocessed form, versus aconite in the form where it is processed by way of the samskaras, which involve prayers as well as physical pharmacy techniques.

Unprocessed aconite was significantly toxic to mice (100% mortality at a dose of 2.6 mg/mouse) whereas the fully processed aconite was absolutely non-toxic (no mortality at a dose even 8 times as high as that of crude aconite).

Other treatment approaches include: the application of sesame oil to the body, known as snehana, abhiyanga and shirodhara; sweating, known as swedana; and panchakarma, which is a Sanskrit word that means “five actions” or “five treatments.” This is a process used to clean the body of toxic materials left by disease and poor nutrition.

Ayurvedic Medicine: The Oldest System of Medicine, Part 1

I’ve been writing about the roots of healing in this series, and in the last article I discussed sound healing. I said how sound healing is one of the oldest forms of healing known to humankind.

Now I will expand beyond discussing healing approaches and begin to discuss various systems of medicine. As medicine begins to be part of a society’s way of life, it becomes more systematized and formalized, in order that it can be used by the masses.

Ayurvedic medicine is one such system of medicine, and it is the oldest known system of medicine on the planet.

Ayurvedic medicine is native to India. The word Ayurveda comes from the Sanskrit and means, “Science of Life.” In Sanskrit the word ayurveda consists of the words āyus, meaning “longevity,” and veda, meaning “related to knowledge” or “science.”

Ayurveda springs from the Hindu tradition, although Buddhism has also had a major influence on Ayurvedic ideas.

Ayurveda traces its origins to the Vedas, the ancient classical sacred texts of Hinduism. There are four Vedas, and Ayurveda is said to stem from the Veda known as Atharvaveda, which contains 114 hymns or formulations for the treatment of diseases. Ayurveda originated in and developed from these hymns. In this sense, ayurveda is considered by some to have divine origin.

According to legend, the system of medicine was received by a man named Dhanavantari from Brahma, and Dhanavantari was deified as the god of medicine.

Dhanavantari is said to be an avatar of Vishnu from the Hindu tradition, and god of ayurvedic medicine. Dhanavantari was an early Indian medical practitioner and one of the world’s first surgeons.

Based on Vedic traditions, he is regarded as the source of ayurveda. He perfected many herbal based cures and natural remedies and was credited with the discovery of the antiseptic properties of turmeric and the preservative properties of salt, which he incorporated in his cures.

There is a quote attributed to Dhanavantri, in which he says, “I the Lord Dhanavantri brought this healing science on earth from heaven.”

Ayurveda is a medicine of the body, mind and soul, and is closely associated with the other Hindu disciplines of yoga and tantra, which together are seen as the three paths of Vedic knowledge.

According to Robert Svoboda, a doctor of Ayurvedic medicine:

“Because every embodied individual is composed of a body, a mind and a spirit, the ancient Rishis of India who developed the Science of Life organized their wisdom into three bodies of knowledge: Ayurveda, which deals mainly with the physical body; Yoga, which deals mainly with spirit; and Tantra, which is mainly concerned with the mind. The philosophy of all three is identical; their manifestations differ because of their differing emphases. Ayurveda is most concerned with the physical basis of life, concentrating on its harmony of mind and spirit. Yoga controls body and mind to enable them to harmonize with spirit, and Tantra seeks to use the mind to balance the demands of body and spirit.”

Within Ayurveda, there are eight disciplines of treatment, known as Ashtangas. They are:

* Internal medicine (Kaaya-chikitsa)
* Paediatrics (Kaumarabhrtyam)
* Surgery (Shalya-chikitsa)
* Eye and ENT (Shalakya tantra)
* Demonic possession (Bhuta vidya): Bhuta vidya has been
called psychiatry.
* Toxicology (Agadatantram)
* Prevention diseases and improving immunity and
rejuvenation (rasayana)
* Aphrodisiacs and improving health of progeny
(Vajikaranam)

Balance is a central theme in Ayurveda. Balance is emphasized; suppressing natural urges is seen to be unhealthy, and doing so may almost certainly lead to illness.

To stay within the limits of reasonable balance and measure is stressed upon. Ayurveda places an emphasis on moderation in food intake, sleep, sexual intercourse, and the intake of medicine.

Ayurveda incorporates an entire system of dietary recommendations, along with lifestyle recommendations, in order to help achieve balance.

To be continued tomorrow…

Healing with Sound, Part 2

In the first part of this article, Healing with Sound, Part 1, I disussed how healing with sound is one of the oldest healing modalities known to humans.

Modern science, especially quantum physics, has explained how it works. And modern medicine has incorporated the principles in developing ultrasound imaging; modern medicine also uses sound healing to treat kidney and gall bladder stones.

Here are some quotes over the eons on the profundity of healing with sound:
Plato: “Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other in the integration of the human being because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the Soul on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the Soul of him who is rightly educated truly graceful.”

Leonardo Da Vinci: “Do you know that our soul is composed of harmony?”

Hazrat Inayat Khan: “A person does not hear sound only through the ears; he hears sound through every pore of his body. It permeates the entire being, and according to its particular influence either slows or quickens the rhythm of the blood circulation; it either wakens or soothes the nervous system. It arouses a person to greater passions or it calms him by bringing him peace. According to the sound and its influence a certain effect is produced. Sound becomes visible in the form of radiance. This shows that the same energy which goes into the form of sound before being visible is absorbed by the physical body. In that way the physical body recuperates and becomes charged with new magnetism.”

George Leonard: “At the root of all power and motion, there is music and rhythm, the play of patterned frequencies against the matrix of time, Before we make music, music makes us.”

How does sound healing work? I mentioned in the previous article, Healing with Sound, Part 1, that the principle of resonance lies at the heart of healing with sound, that when sound resonates with the body, mind and soul, it allows the body to open up.

What occurs when this resonance happens is a person goes deeper into the sacred spaces within their body, the nonverbal regions where the soul resides. It is a deeply meditative place, a space of deep peacefulness, clarity and sharpened awareness.

The science of sound healing calls this entrainment, and talks about the different brain wave states that the body can be induced to go into.

In our everyday waking state, brain wave frequencies are in the Beta state. But with the proper entrainment from various sounds, the brain will go into the deeper and trance-like Alpha and Theta states, as the brain harmonizes with the vibrations of the sounds.

With sound healing, first you will become truly relaxed, allowing your brain activity to slowly guide into the gentle waves of Alpha. Your awareness expands and you experience a liberating sense of peace and well-being.

Alpha is a place of deep relaxation, but not quite meditation. Alpha lies just below conscious awareness – it is the gateway, the entry point that leads into deeper states of consciousness.

As the healing sounds continue, it can take a person even deeper into relaxation, where they will enter the elusive and mysterious Theta state, where brain activity slows almost to the point of sleep, but not quite.

Theta is the brain state where fascinating things can happen within a person’s neurological activity. Theta brings forward heightened receptivity, flashes of dreamlike imagery, inspiration, and long-forgotten memories.

Theta can bring deep states of meditation, and a sensation of floating. And because it is an expansive state, in Theta the mind can expand beyond the boundaries of the body.

Theta is one of the more elusive and extraordinary realms that can be experienced. It is also known as the twilight state, which is normally experienced briefly. Theta is like a waking dream, with vivid imagery flashing before the mind’s eye; in this state a person is more receptive to information beyond normal conscious awareness.

Healing sounds can be produced by chanting, bells, gongs, singing bowls, drums, rattles, and other sound tools.

Different spiritual traditions around the world teach the sacredness of various sounds, and that meditating and saying these sounds can lead to the creation of health, happiness, peace, and harmony, along with a heightened awareness.

And there are companies that have developed audio technology that incorporates binaural beats that synchronize the two hemispheres of the brain, allowing the brain to quickly go into the Theta state. The two best known audio technologies are called Hemi-sync and Holosync.

Healing with Sound: Part 1

Healing with Sound is one of the oldest and most primal ways of tapping into the Innate Healing System in order to help facilitate and maximize the power of a person to self-heal.

Today and next time I’ll delve into healing with sound, with a two-part article about it.

Quantum physics tells us that the universe is primarily made up of consciousness and information, and that the language of consciousness is vibrations and frequencies.

Matter emanates from consciousness, as quantum physics tells us – the technical name for matter is wavefunction.

A wavefunction is what matter is – part wave/vibration and part material form.

If at the heart of matter lies vibrations and frequencies, then at a basic level, matter communicates with itself through the primal sounds of vibrations and frequencies.

Ultrasounds are based on this principle. The ultrasound sends sound waves into the body, with a different frequency used, depending on which organ is being imaged. The organ picks up the frequency and through the process of resonance, the image of that organ is seen.

Resonance is the principle on which sound healing is based, just as resonance is the principle in which activating the innate healing system is based.

Resonance can open the body up in very powerful ways. The body can become like a tuning fork, reverbating in synchronous harmony with different sounds.

Different sounds resonate with different parts of the body, and a range of sounds can resonate with the entire body and find its way into the depths of the soul.

Sound healing is one of the oldest forms of healing known to humans. Sound healing was used in the ancient civilizations of China, Egypt, Greece and India. In the Bible, David played his harp to lift King Saul’s depression. Handel wrote his “Water Music” to help King George’s problems of memory loss and depression.

The Greek mathematician Pythagoras postulated that there was a rhythm of sounds that emanated throughout the cosmos, and that these sounds were in harmony with one another and with all of creation. He called this “The Harmony of the Spheres,” and it was his belief that as long as people were in harmony with the rhythms of the cosmos, they could then live in harmony with nature.

In modern times, sound healing is now widely used in Germany and Eastern Europe. Patients report a reduction in headaches, better sleep patterns, improved memory and concentration.

Hospitals are now using harpists to calm patients on the operating table after research found that the instrument eased pain. The sound and vibrations have also been shown to lower the heart rate, decrease blood pressure and combat heart disease. Research in the United States found that the range of vibrations emitted by the plucked strings affect the body’s nervous system.

At the Department of Coronary Care at St. Agnes Hospital, Baltimore, music ranks high on the list of modern day management of critical care patients. Its relaxing properties enable patients to get well faster by allowing them to accept their condition and treatment without excess anxiety.

In a study of 59,000 patients, 97% of them stated that music was a real help to them to relax in the postoperative situation and during surgery with local anesthesia.

To be continued next time…

The Innate Healing System

Over the last few weeks, I’ve written articles on some of the oldest forms of healing, methods that really are at the root of all healing methods.

These articles were on spiritual healing and on shamanism.

These healing approaches were predicated on helping the person to heal themselves. They were used to facilitate and activate the innate healing system that all of us have within.

The progression of medicine over the eons is based on this concept: everyone has a healing system, and it just needs to be maximized. All natural approaches have started with this basic premise, and have worked from there. All the modalities and disciplines used by the various natural healing approaches have this in common – they work at stimulating the body’s own reservoir of healing.

Modern medicine has gotten far away from this essential truth. It is a technological bioscience, and doesn’t recognize that people have great capacities of healing. To recognize that fact, that people can heal, a doctor would have to take the time to listen to a person, to get to know them, and then to give thought as to the proper treatment approach – and this approach would not just be writing a prescription.

It could incorporate nutrition, exercise, rest and stress management – the whole of the person would be looked at, from diet, lifestyle, emotions, attitude, spiritual health, the energetic body, and so on.

Working at this level is how the innate healing system can then be mobilized.

Bernard Lown, M.D., is the author of the book, The Lost Art of Healing: Practicing Compassion in Medicine. Dr. Lown is also a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

In The Lost of Healing, he wrote:
“Our health care system is breaking down because the medical profession has been shifting its focus away from healing, which begins with listening to the patient. The reasons for this shift include a romance with mindless technology, which is embraced in large measure as a means for maximizing income.

“Since it is uneconomic to spend much time with patients, diagnosis is performed by exclusion, which opens floodgates for endless tests and procedures. Malpractice suits should be viewed as mere pustules on the physiognomy of a sick health care system. They are not what ails medicine in the United States, they are the consequence.

“The medical care system will not be cured until the patient once again becomes central to the doctor’s agenda.”

Another physician who was a Nobel Peace Prize winner, was Albert Schweitzer. Schweitzer, born in 1875 and who died in 1965, practiced medicine in his native Germany and in Africa. He was fully schooled in the virtues of helping the innate healing system. He said:

“Each patient carries his own doctor within him. They come to us not knowing that truth. We are at our best when we give the doctor who resides within each patient a chance to go to work.”

In case you were wondering, Dr. Lown won his Nobel Peace Prize in 1985 for his work at trying to end nuclear war; Dr. Schweitzer was awarded his Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 for his philosophy of “Reverence for Life,” and the different ways that he manifested and expressed that.

Over the days and weeks to come, this series on Healing will take a look at different modalities and disciplines whose aim is to activate and cultivate the innate healing system.

I invite you to read along as I delve into these.

Shamanism, Mysticism, and Quantum Borders of Reality: Part 3

Today I conclude this three-part fascinating article on Shamanism. If you missed the first two parts, here are the links:

Shamanism, Mysticism, and Quantum Borders of Reality: Part 1

Shamanism, Mysticism, and Quantum Borders of Reality: Part 2

The World of the Mystic and Shaman

Once we understand this basic concept, that the mind and consciousness transcend normal boundaries and spread beyond four-dimensional space-time, we can begin to understand more fully the world of the mystic, the world of nonordinary reality and the world of the shaman. Traditional cultures, unencumbered by the weightiness of analytical thinking, have always accepted these worlds. Westerners are just coming around.

Yet at the same time, taking these traditional worldviews and synthesizing them with progressive scientific thinking can only bode well for all. We can start to get a better understanding of how the shaman operates and how he or she effects a cure.

I have undergone shamanic journeying and have been awed by the insights gained from them. Are my insights mere fragments from a fertile imagination? I don’t think so. I tend to believe that I am tapping into the larger universal field of consciousness. All it takes to reach into that field is a shifting of the mind.

Trance Ritual

The shifting of the mind in shamanism and mysticism is generally achieved through some sort of trance ritual. Drumming, dancing, chanting, singing, meditating and other modalities are often used.

A Bar Mitzvah. I remember a few years ago, attending my nephew’s Bar Mitzvah. As the service went on, the rabbi and his assistants started speaking faster and faster, repeating the same phrases over and over, building the energy in the room into a crescendo.

At a certain point, as they continued with their ritual, there was a certain shift in energy and consciousness. A few people sighed and started crying; I could feel in myself my heart opening up and a sense of lightness within. Shortly after, the ceremony ended and the rabbi declared my nephew to be blessed.

Excitation of electrons

I believe that ceremony was a trance ritual. It worked up to a feverish pitch whereby the energy in the room palpably shifted. I have speculated that what they did was excite the vibrations of the electrons in the room until they were moving at a rate that allowed them to resonate more effectively with the quantum state. Since the quantum state is akin to the state of Spirit, in essence through the ritual they were able to make us closely connected to Spirit; or perhaps for a moment we became Spirit.

Perhaps this is the key to entering nonordinary states of reality. If one excites their electrons in whatever way one deems appropriate, they will then be further aligned with the quantum world. By being aligned with the quantum world, they will transition from the world of everyday reality to the quantum world of nonordinary reality, a reality that exists everywhere and anywhere, at a panoramic setting of 360 degrees.

The Path of the Shaman

Technicians of the Sacred

The ability to enter a nonordinary reality is the hallmark of the mystic. A shaman fits into this definition of a mystic, for a shaman readily traverses through various worlds as a great specialist in the human soul. The path the shaman takes is first and foremost spiritual; they are technicians of the sacred.

Shamanism is the oldest and most widespread method of healing with the imagination – over 20,000 years old. Shamans induce a state of mind that transcends ordinary reality, allowing them to access inner intuitive wisdom and bring it back for the benefit of others.

The Lama as Shaman

In Tibetan Buddhism, the Lama is the shaman, the psychic healer and guide of souls. Reciting chants from ritual texts from the secret books of Guru Rinpoche, this allows the Lama to enter into an altered state of consciousness, leaving his body behind to seek passage into other worlds, the hidden lands. He returns with treasures of knowledge and power and thus is able to restore lost souls to wholeness.

Maintaining a Foot in Both Worlds

Yet at the same time, just as quantum reality and everyday reality together form the entire panoramic view of reality; the shaman must keep a foot in both worlds to understand the fullness of human existence. The shamans who completely go off, who can’t keep operating in this world while they’re in an altered state, are considered fools or incompetents, or neophytes. The shamans in the Amazon who take ayahuasca and other extremely powerful hallucinogens can actually do surgery under the influence.

Trance Surgery

Speaking of performing surgery while in an altered state (this reminds me of a story I was recently told by a retired nurse about doctors in the hospital she used to work in who performed surgery while inebriated), in Brazil there are people who perform what is called trance surgery. To perform surgery while in a trance state is a very concrete representation of maintaining a foot in both worlds. Within a manner of minutes, the surgeon (who is generally not someone trained in Western medicine or surgical techniques) goes into a trance state in which their body is used by a possessing spirit or intelligent entity as a vehicle for its own medical purposes. Healing skills supposedly unknown to the healer are manifested during trance behaviors. These trance surgeons usually perform no rituals; they work with their eyes open, conversing with those present.

One of the most incredible aspects of these phenomena is that the surgical instruments are not sterilized, nor are the patients anesthetized. Yet accounts of infection and inflammation are rare, and patients generally appear to experience little or no pain and minimal bleeding. And furthermore, many patients experience either temporary or permanent cures of their ailments.

Sai Baba

A trance surgeon who practices in England, a man by the name of Stephen Turoff, claims that his inspiration comes from the Indian mystic Sai Baba. Sai Baba is considered a “national treasure of India” and at age 13 declared himself an avatar, an incarnation of God on earth. He has performed many miracles, which he calls mere calling cards, toys and tricks to gain our interest and to demonstrate the illusion of our physical bodies and the material world to which we are all so attached.

A psychiatrist who has witnessed Sai Baba first hand reports that Sai Baba has manifested objects out of thin air, resurrected the dead, and healed people of cancer. He writes, “there is no miracle known to humankind that Sai Baba has not performed.”

The Babalawo

To the Westerner, these stories seem preposterous. There is just no way something like this can be true, as it eludes rational and linear common sense.

Phillip John Neimark is one person who can vouch for the illusion of rationality and the sanctity of the sacred. A white, Jewish middle-age businessman who lives in Chicago, he made his first million at the age of 30; now he is also a high priest, or babalawo, in the Ifa religion. As Neimark tells it, “I was totally committed to the Cartesian, Newtonian universe and I lived my life absolutely on that basis. If you couldn’t prove God, He didn’t exist. In fact, I militantly attacked and dismissed any other paradigm.” His antique Jaguar had a license plate bearing Aristotle’s empirical dictum, A is A.

Through a series of life and spiritual crises, Neimark found himself inducted into the Ifa religion and became a high priest of the religion. Now he says “I don’t care how you do it. I don’t care how anybody does it. Just connect to that divine energy. Otherwise you will not get out of this lifetime nearly what you should.”

Into the Mystic

As Phillip John Neimark has shown, one doesn’t have to be of a particular culture or background to live the life of the shaman or mystic. All it takes is an innate understanding that the world is full of Spirit, and that Spirit controls the invisible forces of nature.

Who knows the mysterious ways of the invisible forces that control our lives? This is what the shaman, the mystic and the forward thinking scientist are all trying to ascertain.

Shamanism, Mysticism and Quantum Borders of Reality: Part 2

I continue now with the second article in this multipart series on shamanism. Yesterday was the first part, Shamanism, Mysticism and Quantum Borders of Reality: Part 1.

Dreams and the Soul

Westerners do not fully understand the realm of the psyche, the soul or the transcendent; to many it is a deep, dark chasm that is best maintained with a padlock. It is better to sweep it under the rug, to not delve into it and understand it. It may rear its head in dreams, but because Westerners are not sensitized to their dreams, it will be quickly discarded.

Many traditional cultures look to their dreams for guidance, to help them shape the lives of their people. Central to the practices of many traditional cultures is the pre-dawn ritual of dream sharing. Dreams are shared and used by the entire community and individuals dream not only for themselves but also for the community as a whole. In their dreams they will find access to forces that are not revealed in everyday awareness. They believe that something akin to a soul-body leaves their physical body to travel within a parallel world.

Traditional cultures use their dreams to develop both individually and collectively, whereas Westerners have no similar protocol, as the dreams of Westerners don’t develop with age; instead their dreams stay at the level of a child. One member of an Amazon tribe said about Westerners, “I didn’t know people in the north dreamed.”

And to traditional cultures, it is understood that people are not the only ones who dream. The Bugi, who have inhabited the coasts of Sulawesi since before recorded time, sail in large wooden-hulled schooners with enormous black sails. These ships are called prahu. Prahus have no motors, navigational equipment, nor modern technology of any kind, yet they sail great distances. Their belief is that every prahu has a dream and that this dream exists before the ship is built. The prahu builders will enter the dream of the prahu to see where it will sail and what storms it will encounter, so they know how to focus their work and what parts of the prahu will need special attention.

Westerners consider the waking state the only reality and dreams to be unreal and unimportant. Traditional cultures believe the dream state to have greater potential for understanding and spiritual progress than the so-called waking state, and both states to be equally real or unreal.

In Tibetan Buddhism there is a form of yoga called Tibetan dream yoga. It consists of four stages:

1. Comprehending the nature of the dream (i.e., that it is a dream and thus, a construction of the mind)

2. Practicing the transformation of dream content until one experientially understands that all of the contents of dreaming consciousness can be changed by will and that dreams are essentially unstable

3. Realizing that the sensory experiences of waking consciousness are just as illusory as dreams and that, in a sense, “it’s all a dream.”

4. Meditating on the “thatness” of the dream state, which results in union with a “clear light.”

The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science

Logical Empiricism

Within Western society there are certain precepts, which we can call metaphysical foundations. These are assumptions of the way the world operates that are based not on research or scientific theory, yet are neither articulated nor brought into question during the course of modern research. These assumptions do not reside within the material world as such, nor can they be proven by empirical experiments, but they form the ground out of which all our conceptual ideas about the physical world reside.

Like Ken Wilber’s Flatland, which you read about in Part 1, these metaphysical foundations are based on the premise that if you can’t experience it with your senses, it doesn’t exist.

The most important of the metaphysical foundations are objectivism, positivism and reductionism. These lead to the assumption of logical empiricism, which is the belief in the premise that the basic stuff of the universe is what physicists study: namely, matter and physical energy – ultimately, “fundamental particles,” their associated fields and interrelationships.

Anomalies

Yet as science studies things large and small, from the depths of the submicroscopic to the infinite expanse of the cosmos (and everything in between), there are areas that do not easily fit into these metaphysical assumptions. These are such concepts as non-local causality, self-organizing systems, nonlinear dynamics, turbulence, consciousness, synchronicity, superpositioning, and more. There is even some evidence that the speed of light is capable of going faster than what Einstein has postulated to be an absolute.

Some would point to all these areas as anomalies, statistical warts that fall outside the normal purview. But the reality is that these so-called anomalies are not so much demonstrations of shortfalls in our knowledge of mechanisms as much as indicators of the inadequacy of the present day scientific approach and the metaphysical foundations and principles it adheres to.

The Incorporation of Quantum Thought

When we extend our borders of everyday reality to include quantum thought, much of the anomalous areas then begin to make sense and can be explained through scientific terms. Science can then be used to help us probe deeper, to question, to analyze, to criticize, to synthesize. Instead of a science that thinks in an exclusionary manner, quick to dismiss that which doesn’t fit into its narrow paradigm, we can have a science that can think in an inclusive manner, that can help to explain things which seem to be beyond comprehension.

Zombies.
For instance, in the country of Haiti, in the year 1962, a man by the name of Clairvius Narcisse died. Eighteen years later, in 1980, Narcisse was found walking in a marketplace, claiming to be a zombie. There was no doubt that he had died, nor was there any doubt that he was who he said he was. Because of the publicity surrounding Narcisse, other Haitians surfaced with similar tales, also claiming to be zombies.

Scientists from the U.S. researched the matter and determined that Voodoo priests and sorcerers created herbal decoctions that could paralyze a person’s central nervous system; after the person was buried the priest would come and give them the antidote, which would revive them, yet keep them in a drugged state. The priest then would give periodic doses of the decoction to the person to maintain the drugged state. Thus the person perceived of themselves as zombies, controlled by someone they considered being their master.

360 degrees.
Not all scenarios can be explained so readily; yet there can still be open-minded scientific discussions on them. As long as science starts with the assumption that reality goes far beyond our senses, then our metaphysical foundations can be much broader. With the understandings of superpositioning, coherence and decoherence, non-local causality, and nonlinear dynamics, the scope, depth and breadth of science can virtually cover all areas considered anomalous.

What these modern sciences tell us is that true reality exhibits a 360-degree nature. What this means is that reality exists twofold: both in a linear fashion, neatly laid out from past to present to future; and in a nonlinear fashion, with the past, present and future all around us, occurring at all times, in many dimensions.

Superpositioning has shown us that in the quantum realm, electrons exist in all possible states at all times and communicate to one another about their positions. Although in our macroscopic world the electron takes just one position of density, the communication continues, non-locally, between the electrons of the macroscopic world and the quantum world.

The electrons of the quantum world inform the electrons of the macroscopic world that it is possible to continue to move and be in many places at once.

Gravity and thermodynamics offset this information by informing the macroscopic electrons that they cannot move and that they are dense and absolute. Yet what the macroscopic electrons do, in its attempt to mirror the quantum electrons, is follow a path of nonlinear dynamics, of creating fractals and strange attractors.

In this way, the electrons of our everyday world open the floodgates of uncertainty, to show that even in our everyday reality there are movements that happen that are beyond linear mathematical formulation. Thus, all around us, at all times, exists a world of each and every possibility.

Non-local Causality

Electrons talk in an indigenous language of wavelengths and frequencies in the superpositioned state. And as I said above, the communication continues even when electrons transition into density. The ability for electrons to communicate across boundaries of space and time is considered non-local causality.

Even consciousness follows these rules. It is a quantum system that decoheres into density. Each of us has our own mind, with its own level of consciousness – this is the result of quantum decoherence into density. At this level we experience ourselves as separate from others.

Yet at the root of our individual consciousness is a non-local mind, a universal consciousness, in which our thoughts are ultimately connected into a universal mind. It is most probable that the electrons of local and non-local consciousness, or individual and universal mind, communicate in the same indigenous language as all other electrons.

As physicist Arthur Eddington said, “The stuff of the world is mind-stuff…The mind-stuff is not spread in space and time…Recognizing that the physical world is entirely abstract and without ‘actuality’ apart from its linkage to consciousness, we restore consciousness to the fundamental position.”

To be continued next time…

Shamanism, Mysticism, and Quantum Borders of Reality: Part 1

The last article I wrote during this series on healing was a three-part article entitled Spiritual Healing: The Roots of Healing.

I now want to take it a step further. I said in the spiritual healing articles how spiritual healing is at the root of all medical systems and at the root of traditional healing.

Well, closely aligned with spiritual healing is shamanism. Shamanism is a healing form that has been documented to be at least 20,000 years old.

In today’s article, I want to explore shamanism in conjunction with mysticism, and also integrate the quantum sciences into the equation.

A tall order, to be sure.

Like the article on spiritual healing, this also will be a multi-part series, so fasten your seat belt and get ready for the ride, cause here we go. This will take you deep and wide, so get ready to open your mind and be challenged.

Not too long ago, I had a dream in which I was in a large Victorian mansion that had many floors and many rooms on each of the floors. I was running from floor to floor, going in and out of the rooms. I then passed a room that was on a landing, next to a flight of stairs. This room was padlocked, chained to let out any intruders. A voice in the dream then said to me, “This room contains the secrets of your psyche. No one is allowed to enter, including you.”

This dream had a little bit of an edge to it, as though it was a scene from a horror movie. But the image stood clear in my mind the next morning as I woke up and clearly remembered it and wondered about its meaning.

I’ve always been a more closed person, not comfortable talking about my deepest feelings, and desirous of pushing my deeper angst well under the rug. So here I was confronted by it in my dream. But I was curious to find out what was behind the door.

A day or so later I lay on my bed and allowed my mind to take me back into that house. The imagery appeared in my mind and I was transplanted back to that place. I approached the door, turned the doorknob and the door opened. There was a ring of fire and I jumped through it. At that point I just started falling through space. I continued to fall – or perhaps it was floating. I got the sense that I was now outside the boundaries of space-time and that I had entered another dimension, one that some call the dreamtime.

That was the extent of my imagery. The sense I got was that in entering the land of my subconscious, I was going beyond the linear, rational world into another world, a world of nonordinary reality, one where the normal boundaries of physical laws are altered. I got the sense that this world bordered on the infinite and that there was neither a beginning nor end to its depth. It was just emptiness and I was floating through it.

Ordinary and Nonordinary Reality

Dreams of Butterflies

There is a famous story about the legendary Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu once dreaming he was a butterfly. As he writes:

Once I, Chuang Tzu, dreamed I was a butterfly and was happy as a butterfly. I was conscious that I was quite pleased with myself, but I did not know that I was Chuang Tzu. Suddenly I awoke, and there I was, visibly Chuang Tzu. I do not know whether it was Chuang Tzu dreaming that he was a butterfly or the butterfly dreaming that it was Chuang Tzu.

Chuang Tzu was wondering whether in his life he dreamed of himself being a butterfly; or was it that his life was the dream of a butterfly? Either way, as you ponder his story, you come to the awareness that at a certain level of human existence there is a blurring of the line between our everyday world of reality and the realm of nonordinary reality.

Flatland

How readily accessible is this nonordinary realm? It is possible to spend one’s entire lifetime without ever experiencing these realms or even without being aware of their existence..

Ken Wilber calls a reality that ignores the existence of inner realms as the world of “Flatland.” He defines flatland as the worldview that has the idea that “sensory and empirical and material is the only world there is – there are no higher or deeper potentials and what we see with our senses is what there is.” Sad to say, this is the worldview of the great majority of Westerners.

The Nierika

A fundamental tenet of traditional cultures is the knowledge of these inner realms. The Huichol Indians believe there is a portal between the ordinary and nonordinary worlds. They call this portal the Nierika. It is considered both a passageway and barrier between worlds, and usually remains hidden and secret until the time of death.

Death is considered one of the primary ways that people learn of the nonordinary realms. Ancient books of the dead are actually maps of the inner territories of the psyche encountered in profound nonordinary states of consciousness; included in those states are those associated with biological dying.

Near-Death Experiences

The greatest proof we have of the relationship between nonordinary states of consciousness and biological dying is research with people who have had near-death experiences. The most profound of these experiences occur to those who for a few moments actually clinically die and have an experience of going out of their body. Research has shown that these people go through an event with transcendental and mystical elements. Elements that are common to the near-death experience are:

* Feelings of peace and quiet
* Hearing unusual noises
* Seeing a dark tunnel
* Being out of the body
* Meeting spiritual beings
* Experiencing a bright light as a being of light
* Panoramic life review
* Experiencing a realm in which all knowledge exists
* Experiencing cities of light
* Experiencing a realm of bewildered spirits
* Experiencing a supernatural rescue
* Sensing a border or limit

Coming back into the body

For some Westerners who undergo this experience the return to ordinary reality can have dramatic repercussions. These include long-term depression, broken relationships, disrupted careers, feelings of severe alienation, an inability to function in the world, long years of struggling with a keen sense of altered reality, and a divorce rate as high as 75%.

I would venture to say that the reason some of the experients go through this is that our Western culture does not encourage the exploration of the inner transcendent realms, and thus many of these people return to a world that they feel they no longer can fit into.

A few years ago I almost drowned and went through my own near-death experience. The day after my experience I had a business luncheon with a lawyer friend of mine. Because we had tried for months to get together, I did not want to cancel the lunch. I went through with it; I did not tell him a word about my recent experience, as it seemed inappropriate. The entire lunch seemed somewhat surreal, although I carried myself normally and I’m sure from his perspective nothing seemed amiss.

Because the people I hang with share similar values with myself, I was able to share with them what I was going through over the next few weeks. This helped immensely as I processed my experience, allowing me to function normally. Because of the assistance of everyone in my support network, I didn’t go through the repercussions that were described above.

Because Western culture doesn’t have a paradigm that enables the transcendent experience to be synthesized into everyday life, it has to be shocking to those who involuntarily are pushed into that realm, as happens to those who undergo a near-death experience.

To be continued tomorrow…

Next Page »