Denial Isn’t a River in Egypt
"How long have you had heartburn," I asked.
"Not very often," my patient responded.
"Well, how often, can you give me an estimate?"
"Oh, maybe every other day," he replied.
This particular dialogue is not uncommon. We can call it trivializing, denial, minimizing, or all the above. But the bottom line is that the symptom that is being discussed is not important. Heartburn, headache, anxiety, fear, abdominal pain, blood in the urine, constipation, chronic cough, chronic sinus congestion, overweight; potential problems that we can decide to put on the back burner or better yet hope that it or they won't come back.
The issue is this. The energy field mindbody never lies and never holds back when it's in pain. It will always speak the truth. So to have heartburn and not recognize it for what it is misses the opportunity to be healthier.
So infrequent means significant. Let's try not to ignore the opportunity for better health and pay attention and have resolve that we'll do something about whatever the mindbody is showing us.
Health is a skill that we work at all the time Love DrBill
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The Amazing Kapha Energy Pattern
This is the third of three blogs spending some time discussing the physiologic energy patterns that are observable in the universe and comprise our energy mindbodies In the medical energy science of Ayurveda, there are three identifiable energy patterns in Nature There is the energy of movement, that of transformation and the energy of stability. All three are necessary for Nature to function and for us as well
Energy of Stability Kapha is the energy pattern that is necessary for us to maintain form and not have our mindbodies fly off into space The qualities of this energy pattern are heavy, cold, slow/dull, static, sticky/cloudy, oily, liquid, slimy/smooth, gross, hard, dense and soft. These are the vibrational frequencies of the energy field that are most like that of the matter field and most available to our senses Therefore Kapha people are very sensate driven They love the tastes and smells of food and are pulled to the sensate experience Because of this they are lured to professions such as cooking such as Emeril who is a classic Kapha in his element
Kapha dominant people are very loving, make great parents, and are strong with good endurance and stamina They manifest in the matter field as a strong physical frame, big bones and muscles and large body frame Celebrities such as Oprah is a classic example of the beautiful regal attributes of this energy pattern From the smooth, milky complexion to the luscious eyes, she elegantly shows the grace of this energy pattern
Of the three energy patterns, Kapha has the slowest metabolism of the physiologies Due to this characteristic Kapha does the worst in a culture which caters to the fast life When a culture supports a lot of movement the foods chosen to balance this fast lifestyle are literally "fast foods" These type of foods are Vata balancing which contain as we blogged earlier, heavy foods
Now these "fast foods" are the same as Kapha in terms of the vibrational frequencies So heavy foods will produce more heaviness in a physiology that already has a lot of the heavy vibrational frequency So we can see very quickly that "fast foods" bringing heaviness to a fast moving society will be very imbalancing to a heavy Kapha physiology
Due to Kapha's heavy vibrational frequency the best balancing foods that contain the light vibrational frequency So heavy liquid foods such as dairy, fatty and salty meats and nuts not good choices. Light foods such as beans, light vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli and meats such as white chicken and turkey
Our problems with obesity lie in the fact that we do not understand these simple energetic concepts around this energy pattern
To Health as a Skill Dr Bill
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The Pitta Energy Pattern
Pitta is the energy of transformation and its qualities are hot, sharp/penetrating, light, mobile, liquid, and oily
Of the three energy patterns discussed, Pitta is the only pattern with the hot quality Heat transforms Sharp/penetrating helps with discrimination and seeing through problems
The lightness of Pitta is different than light of Vata(feather) because light here means illumination, shedding light on a subject; intensity here is a good word for Pitta Vata's light vibrational frequency is associated with playfulness and levity
The intensity of Pitta is not too intensive There is a great deal of warmth by hot vibrational frequency but not burning; it's not like a pit bull that won't let go There is an ease of the intensity Otherwise the intensity becomes rigidity
A fire is mobile as the flames dance and Pitta in balance is flexible in the mindbody; able to entertain different alternatives But the mobility of Pitta is different than that of Vata as well
The mobility or movement of energy causes us to notice things in our environment So the stock market moves up and it attracts our attention It is this aspect of Pitta's vibrational frequency of mobility that promotes survival and evolutionary behavior when in balance
So hook up with Pitta if you want to see through problems, guidance, nourish the best choices, have great wisdom, incredible intensity, highly focused, determined, and thorough
Pitta is a great change artist for himself and others(if they so choose) It is able to give good intellectual guidance well thought out. keen, and brilliant(light)
Do you know anyone in your life or celebrities who expresses the characteristics of the balanced Pitta? How do they make you feel when you're around them? Can you think of any celebrities or leaders that carry this balanced energy?
To health as a Skill Love DrBill
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The Vata Energy Pattern of Movement
Today l'd like to spend some time discussing the physiologic energy pattern of Vata that are observable in Nature and energetically make up our energy mindbodies It's a different way of thinking of our bodies We are so accustomed to thinking about them in molecular terms it's a bit of a stretch to see the body in energy terms But that's the model I talk about at this blog
In the medical energy science of Ayurveda, there are three identifiable energy patterns in Nature, Vata, Pitta, and Kapha There is the energy of movement, that of transformation and the energy of stability All three are necessary for Nature to function and for us as well as a bodymind
Vata The Energy of Movement
Any activity in the physiology that has to do with movement is under the guise of the energy pattern Vata The movement of blood, nerve impulses, food through the GI tract, movement of the mindbody through space are all gross or subtle movements But as I have discussed in a previous blog, mind is a participatory field of energy inclusive of the body's energy field So movement of thought is also part of the energy movement of Vata Energy patterns have specific qualities and Vata has seven qualities which are cold, light, mobile,dry, rough,subtle,and clear And this is how we can understand the workings of the energy patterns in our body The qualities are our window of observation of what the energy pattern is doing at any point in time
For example, if we observe none of these qualities at work then we can say that this energy pattern is in balance That's a good thing! But what happens if we notice the cold quality because we're outside and it's cold, then we could say that there's a possibility that the cold quality outside our body is being stimulated Another way of saying this is that the energy pattern of Vata is being provoked
But more than likely if we stay warm and pay attention to getting warm food when we get inside that no imbalance is created, that is, we stay in balance But what were to happen if we got inside and had ice tea, and a cold salad then went outside again without a coat or wrap Then over time with this kind of behavior, this cold quality would build and the result would be constipation, believe the unbelievable or not!
Examples of the Vata energy pattern
What famous people do we know who exhibit the tendency to predominant Vata energy pattern? President Obama, Mick Jagger and Johnny Depp come to mind. They are thin, move a lot and are creative in their profession
There is a tendency for people with a great deal of Vata energy pattern controlling their physiology to have dry, rough skin and large intestine linings which predispose them to constipation They may have trouble being warm due to the cold quality. Vata tends to predispose to lots of activity due to the mobile quality With the mobile quality they may have a lot of mental activity which can lead to distraction and lack of clarity Those of us with cardiac rhythm disturbances happen to have too much Vata energy pattern People with osteoporosis have too much Vata energy pattern in the bone tissue layer Popping joints do so because they have dryness in their joints
Nutrition and Vata
So how can we relate this to nutrition? If Vata people have the dry quality then adding more dry nutritionally would produce imbalance. So cooked foods would be preferable over dry and cold foods. Raw vegetables would bring about imbalance for Vata because they are rough Vata finds it difficult to gain weight due to the light and mobile qualities. As a matter of fact, Vata does best with heavy foods such as dairy, meat and root vegetables to balance the qualities of light and mobile To counter the dry quality using oily foods would be best
By understanding the imbalancing nature of foods through their tastes and effects on our physiologies we can begin to nourish ourselves from an energetic standpoint
To Health as a Skill Dr Bill
In the next two weeks I'll discuss the other energy patterns of Pitta and Kapha and how they relate to nutrition For more info go to foodsheal.com
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