by Michael Kern
Effects of drugs
Drugs are a frequent source of nutritional imbalance in the body. Apart from the fact that many commonly prescribed drugs destroy certain vitamins and minerals, they are also a major source of toxicity. There is no such thing as a drug without a side-effect. Any substance that artificially produces a specific effect on certain tissues or systems has to be accommodated for by the body. Even if these side-effects are tolerated or dissipated, the balancing adjustments necessary can put a considerable strain on the intrinsic resources of the primary respiratory system.
The effects of drugs can sometimes be clearly palpable in the expressions of primary respiration, particularly in the quality of fluid fluctuation. Antibiotics tend to cause a vibration and jumpiness in the fluids, anti-depressants a quality of sluggishness. The long-term use of painkillers causes a dullness and general dissociation. Anaesthetic drugs are frequently palpated within the fluids as a rapid quivering and coldness, as often arises when the after-effects of surgery are being processed.
Recreational drugs can also have a profound effect. Cannabis, for example, often interferes with the ability of fluids to take up the ordering principle of the Breath of Life and gives primary respiration a muddied and disorganized quality. For this reason it can be quite difficult to treat people who use recreational drugs. Trying to build up potency resources in some of these cases can be like pouring water into a bucket full of holes. When drugs start to dissipate from the tissues during treatment, the qualities mentioned—such as disorganization—are sometimes experienced as noticeable sensations by the patient. Not infrequently, drugs can also be smelled or tasted during this process.
A suitable diet
Generally speaking, a healthy diet contains all the essential nutrients taken in the proper combinations. The best nutritional value is provided by foods grown in uncontaminated soil, containing as few additives and chemicals as possible and free from excessive processing. Ideally, a high proportion of fresh, living foods should be eaten. These foods, consisting primarily of whole grains, seeds, sprouts, nuts, fresh fruits and vegetables, are rich in nutrients and contain plenty of vital force which helps to build the foundations for health.
The details of what constitutes a healthy diet are beyond the scope of this book, but as this is essentially an individual matter, you can make further explorations simply by listening to your own body.
Let your body tell you what it does and doesn’t need. Pay attention to how it responds to what you eat. Take time to feel the sensations created by your food, and let these sensations be your guide. For example, do you feel any discomfort or bloating after meals, or do you get tired easily? You can then explore what kind of diet is more suitable for you by experimenting with other foods. It’s far better to trust the wisdom of the body than to make rules or create fads that may or may not be applicable to your individual constitutional needs.
Environmental Effects
We are an integral part of the environment in which we live; our state of health is intimately related to the conditions that surround us. Both our inner and outer worlds need to be in balance for optimal health to result. However, we may live in an environment where this balance is hard to find. Water, food and air may contain levels of pollutants that have a devitalizing affect on the body.
Those who live in a large city, including myself, may go for long periods of time never seeing much beyond the next building. It is easy to then lose sight of natural horizons, as a perceptual contraction habitually sets in and a sense of perspective is forgotten. Sometimes, it is only when we get back into nature that we are reminded of our natural state of spaciousness. Almost wherever we are, we may be subject to the fast and chaotic influences of modern life, or to other environmental factors such as changes in the weather, or excessive ultra-violet and electromagnetic radiations. Furthermore, environmental influences such as social pressures, family tensions and relationship problems also have their impact. However, we may take reassurance from the fact that the natural earth is still beneath the fabricated covering of any concrete paving stones in the same way that our inner health can still be found under the covering of any patterns of conditioning.
Building health
It seems a fairly common experience that external stresses have the greatest impact when our health is already at a low ebb. Although nothing beats living in a healthy environment, our inner resources may nevertheless be sufficient to offer greater resilience against harmful influences. Taking the responsibility to be discriminating about what we eat, getting out into nature when we can, exercising and taking adequate rest are all important. Craniosacral treatment, which can access our intrinsic resources of health, can be valuable in helping to build up constitutional strength and provide benefit even in adverse environmental conditions. At a fundamental level, our intrinsic health is available twenty-four hours a day, whatever the circumstances.8
Hereditary Factors and Genetics
Certain tendencies to ill-health can be passed down from generation to generation. These tendencies are inherited through the genetic building blocks in cells called DNA. However, now that the entire set of human genes has been completed it has been discovered that they are far less complex than originally thought. The human genetic code shows that we carry little more genetic information than mice, and barely twice as much as tiny fruit flies. Consequently, many scientists have concluded that genes are only part of the story in the development of inherited tendencies.
Genetic predispositions do not necessarily mean that we have to suffer from the same problems as our ancestors. As individuals, we ourselves are always factors in the equation. According to Eastern systems of medicine there are three core energies converging to form a human being at the time of conception; the life-force of the mother, the life-force of the father, and the life-force of the incarnating baby. The interplay of all three of these energies has an influence on the constitutional development of the body. If the expression of our own basic life-force is unhindered, it can override tendencies inherited from our parents.
Our options
Life is not static; even if there are inherited problems the expression of our core health can still be facilitated and strengthened. I have never come across a case where there is no room for improvement. The presence of our intrinsic health goes far deeper than genetics; in fact, our blueprint for health is pre-genetic.9 Genetics can be seen as just one of the physical mechanisms through which the fundamental ordering principle of the Breath of Life conducts its activities. In this age of genetic manipulation it’s easy to lose sight of this deeper intelligence at work.
Although certain inherited predispositions can be present, they often require a certain set of conditions in order to actually manifest as illness. For example, asthma (usually considered to be an inherited illness) often develops when patterns of inertia affect the motion of the lungs, chest or diaphragm, or when potency resources in the body are low. Similarly, acute attacks of hay fever are often triggered when the cranial nerves that supply the sinuses and tear ducts are irritated. Craniosacral treatment is often able to facilitate the resolution of these underlying conditions.
Mental and Emotional Influences
In many traditional forms of medicine, the body and mind are viewed as inseparable aspects of the same person. Unfortunately, they are usually falsely separated and treated accordingly with modern medicine. Nevertheless, when all the forces that condition our health are considered, the role of the psyche is the most formatively powerful of them all. It is the factor that governs our actions, posture, tensions, diet and our responses to life’s experiences. In the words of H.H. the Dalai Lama, “At a deep level mind and body are non-dual.”10
The effects of physical trauma, environmental stresses and even hereditary predispositions can all be influenced by the mind. Furthermore, strong emotions or fixed attitudes can act as important fulcra around which we function. These psychological fulcra may underpin the physical manifestation o
f inertia and be critical factors to address in the treatment of disease. To treat the body without considering the role of the psyche is akin to removing dents from a car, while ignoring the skill of the driver.
THE MIND-BODY CONTINUUM
The mind is chief.
All things are mind made.
You are what you think,
having become what you thought.11
THE BUDDHA
The mind and body are in continuous and intimate relationship until the day we die. Our feelings and attitudes very directly affect the way we hold ourselves, move, breathe and grow.12 Consequently, the body is a clear reflector of the person within. Its tone, posture, proportions, tensions, motility, movements, rhythms and vitality all express this relationship.13 We embody our joys and our suffering.
The body tells a story
The body never lies—it forms itself around who we are inside. If we carry our head low, have tight shoulders, a collapsed chest and walk with a heavy step, these can all reflect feelings of weakness and resignation. In contrast, if our head is carried upright, our shoulders are straight and flexible, our chest is breathing openly and we walk with a springy step, these indicate both confidence and vitality.14 If we hold ourselves in the world in a certain way due to our beliefs, fears and emotions, the very tissues will take a form that supports this state of mind.
Our physical and psychological traumas, as well as our thoughts, feelings and character are reflected in the way the fabric of our bodies becomes patterned. The imprints of any overwhelming experiences remain held in the body in the form of inertia, fixed there by the inability to access the resources to resolve them and affecting the expression of our intrinsic health. As Marilyn Ferguson remarks, “Over the years our bodies become walking autobiographies that tell strangers and friends alike of the major and minor stresses of our lives.”15 Our body language is the true universal Esperanto.16
How cells register feelings
It is becoming more accepted by medical researchers that thoughts and feelings have a direct affect on the functioning of the body. “Stress” has become linked to a diverse range of diseases, including stomach ulcers, cancer, skin problems, backache and infertility. In the field of psycho-neuro-immunology (PNI), a number of mechanisms have now been identified through which the mind can influence the body. Previously unrecognized communication networks between the nervous, hormonal and immune systems have been discovered, providing a link between our psychological states and the way in which the response to disease is activated. These mechanisms translate psychological experience into physiological function.
Researchers have noticed that patients suffering from severe depression have higher levels of the hormone cortisol circulating in their blood. Cortisol is secreted by the adrenal glands when the body is under stress. However, cortisol also inhibits the activity of the immune system, diminishing its ability to combat disease. It would therefore follow that stress or states of depression have the tendency to lead to illness.
Furthermore, a communication network has been discovered that allows for a two-way transfer of messages between the nervous and immune systems. Nerve endings have been found in some tissues of the immune system, enabling them to directly communicate with the nervous system. These connections disprove previously-held beliefs that the immune system functions independently.
It has also been discovered that lymphocytes (immune cells) that help the body to fight infection have receptors on their surface able to receive substances such as hormones and neuro-transmitters.17 This links the activity of immune cells with these chemical messengers used by the hormonal and nervous systems. The functioning of lymphocytes, and therefore of the immune response, can be strongly influenced by the brain through the release of hormones and neuro-transmitters. It was also found that lymphocytes produce chemicals called lymphokines. These chemicals are capable of transmitting messages back to the brain enabling it to monitor the activity of lymphocytes and provide a two-way feedback mechanism between these systems.
Amazingly, it was discovered that lymphocytes can also produce hormones, able to regulate the activity of the nervous system. This provides another link between the functioning of the immune system and the nervous and hormonal systems. As brain activity is closely related to psychological experience, these findings explain some of the pathways by which mind and body influence each other. In this new understanding, the immune system can even be regarded as an extension of the nervous system, helping it regulate the inner balance of the body.
Expectations and beliefs
In 1975 Drs. Robert Ader and Nicholas Cohen at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry discovered that the immune response of rats can be conditioned according to previous experience and expectations, rather like Pavlov’s dogs.18 They conducted a series of experiments in which they paired saccharin-sweetened drinking water with a drug that suppresses the activity of the immune system.19 Surprisingly, they found that if rats were subsequently given saccharin water alone without the drug their immune response was suppressed just as if they were receiving the drug. This so-called placebo effect is indicative of the strong effect that beliefs and expectations can have on the functioning of the immune system, and therefore on the body’s ability to respond to disease.
Other interesting research was conducted in the cardiac ward of a major American hospital with patients suffering from angina. Angina is a condition in which arteries supplying the heart become restricted, producing acute chest pain. The drug, digitalis (traditionally a derivative of the foxglove plant), is known to help with the acute symptoms of an angina attack. Once this drug is administered it generally brings fast relief. In this experiment, fifty percent of patients who suffered from an acute angina attack were given digitalis and the other fifty percent were given a placebo. Even though the second group were just given sugar tablets, a significantly high proportion responded favorably and their symptoms subsided.
Even more interesting was that half of the doctors who prescribed the placebo knew that they were doing so, while the other half thought that they were giving their patients the real drug. Surprisingly, the patients who received a placebo from doctors who were under the false impression they were prescribing the real drug responded much better than those patients who received a placebo from doctors who knew what they were prescribing. So, not only was the belief of the patient significant in their response, but so was the confidence of the doctor.
The implication of these experiments is that patients who receive treatment from doctors who have a positive outlook about their treatment seem to perform better than patients whose doctors don’t believe in what they’re doing. Such is the power of the mind. In conventional medicine these placebo effects are usually treated as some kind of inconvenient and negative statistical aberration. However, if the power of the mind can be skillfully harnessed in the therapeutic process, perhaps there are no limits to the possibilities for cure.
Experiences become fixed
From an early age the structural patterning of the body begins to form under the influence of our mental and emotional states. Inertial fulcra in the tissues frequently develop in relationship to fixed psychological states. In turn, the feelings themselves become imprisoned within contracted tissues and so become even more set in their ways. Such psychosomatic patterns influence our physiological functioning and give us our unique and personally identifiable characteristics of mind and body. Ida Rolf illustrates this point:
An individual experiencing temporary fear, grief or anger, all too often carries in his body an attitude which the world recognises as an outward manifestation of that particular emotion. If he persists in this dramatisation or consistently re-establishes it, thus forming what is ordinarily referred to as a “habit pattern,” the muscular arrangement becomes set. Materially speaking, some muscles shorten and thicken, others are invaded by connective tissue, still others become immobilised by consolidation of the tissue involved. Once this
has happened, the physical attitude is invariable; it is involuntary; it can no longer be changed basically by taking thought or even by mental suggestion. Such setting of a physical response also establishes an emotional pattern. Since it is not possible to establish a free flow through the physical flesh, the subjective emotional tone becomes progressively more limited and tends to remain in a restricted, closely defined area. Now what that individual feels is no longer an emotion, a response to an immediate situation, henceforth he lives, moves and has his being in an attitude.20
An open mind
Research by Dr. Pritbin at Stanford University even indicates that habitual mental patterns can create neural grooves in the cortex of the brain. These findings give a whole new meaning to the phrases having a “one-track mind” or “fixed ideas.” Thought patterns become literal anatomical grooves in the brain, perhaps also influencing the way in which the central nervous system is able to express its motility. In my experience, an open mind is reflected by an open head—that is, one that is relatively free of resistance to the expressions of primary respiration. A tightness within the cranial and facial movements is often noticeable with people who have a fixed attitude and a closed mind. According to an old African proverb, “All that is in the heart is written in the face.”
Reflected in the tides