Natural Laws - The Serpent in Paradise

In this second episode, I discuss two chapters of the book Yoga and Health, by Selvarajan Yesudian and Elisabeth Haich. I focus on respecting the body and the instincts, and how to bring the mind in harmony with the body in order to become whole and live in a higher plane of existence. I talk about the difference between real hunger and civilized appetite. I explore the great temptation, shame, and what it means to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, what it means to sin against nature, against your body, and the natural order and design. I look at free will, pleasure, the way humans turn instinct into an end of itself, and how we subordinate our intelligence to the service of our instincts. This episode is centered on food, nutrition, keeping your thoughts positive, and how to love your body and develop it to become a vehicle for the manifestation of the spirit so that we can live for the highest good.

Transcript

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Hello, and welcome to the Crystal Quiet Podcast. A podcast about presence, the nature of silence, and what it means to live as an end in itself. I am your host, Adriana Montenegro, and this is the second episode of the Crystal Quiet Podcast. I want to focus on the body and instincts and how to respect the instincts and treat them as an end in themselves. So I recorded the second episode of the podcast last Monday while I was on a five-day fast, and it was the fifth day when I recorded, and I was having such a hard time. I was struggling. I didn't have any energy. I just noticed my brain wasn't functioning at a hundred percent enough to be able to do the podcast. I couldn't even get my ideas out or express exactly what I was feeling. And I guess I hadn't really even processed what I thought about the fast itself. I hadn't, I was starving. So I just really, I think I just really wanted it to end. And I was just going through a lot of emotions during that time. And I just decided to scrap it and re-record the entire thing because I don't even think I had fully processed all my feelings on what I was going through at that moment regarding the lack of food and just everything I learned with that five-day fast because I had done a three-day fast a few years ago. And it felt great. It was wonderful. I after that second day, things got easier. After I think halfway through that second day, it felt much better. And I started feeling more connected to nature, and I just I felt connected to myself. It was just a different place than where I'm at today. The five-day fast was, I think, too a little too much for me. And it it did make me reevaluate my dynamic with food. And so I am very grateful that I did it. I I know I did it as an experiment, and I some friends from work were doing it. My friend Sierra was telling me she's she was doing it. So I thought, oh, that's a it sounds like a great challenge. I'm gonna do it too. And I'm glad I did it. It did make me think very differently about food and my relationship to hunger because you do see it come in in waves, and you can also watch yourself just decide you're not gonna eat. And just seeing hunger more so as a signal from the body, as well as just noticing that you don't you have the option not to eat. You don't have to eat, and you won't die if you don't eat for a few days. But at the same time, my body felt weak. I did feel like I couldn't exercise, I couldn't really focus well. I just had no nutrients. I think it also taught me how to respect food because I noticed that I was taking food for granted and I had been for a while, and I just I think it changes its value when you realize that it's missing from your life. When you are abstinent from anything, I think that really takes on this different dimension. Food suddenly becomes everything you want in life, and and it is a life-giving force, and it is it sustains you. I mean, that so you know that you will die if you if you don't eat ever again. But I also think I learned how to respect my attitude towards food and how I approach eating and the food itself. This brought up so many feelings because I had read a book that my father had given to me years ago, a book called Yoga and Health. And it's this book right here. Um, as you can see, it's in pieces. It's falling apart because of how much my dad read it and underlined it in red and green and orange marker or pen. He underlined so many passages from it and wrote notes along the side. But that just means he he was really using it and he was really practicing this, and it inspired me to read it and to, you know, I was also looking for peace at that point in my life, and so I really I was seeking peace and truth everywhere. I still am. I've always been such an anxious person that I was looking for it in all kinds of places. I tried to study all religions. I got into all these different ways of thinking, Eastern thinking. And so it was such a gift to be able to get this, especially knowing that it had such an impact on my dad, on my father end. And this is a book called Yoga and Health by Selva Rajan Yesudian and Elizabeth Heitch. This is not a normal yoga book. At least it's not what I expected, because you know, when you think of yoga, you think of like the body postures and you think, you know, I've I worked at half-price books a few years ago at this bookstore here in Austin, Texas. And of course, I would look through, skim through some of the books in the exercise section and all the yoga sections, and you know, trying to get better, trying to live my life in a better way. Um, but some of the books I would look through, I mean, they have the postures and they have some explanations on how to best go about doing it. But I think what caught my attention in this book, it is mostly based on Eastern thinking. And clearly a lot of esoteric knowledge and books, but the way he talks to the audience as well, the fact that it focuses on a dynamic that you can create with yourself, which is, you know, very connected to what I was talking about in the first episode, which is my attempt to keep developing this relationship that I have to my inner self. He uses the word higher self here or the self to talk about kind of this sort of presence, I guess you could also call it God or just a higher being or a universal soul or self that connects us all, that we're all a part of the spirit that doesn't die. And and I know that in the first episode I did mention my inner self because I guess we all have different ways of looking at that um part of ourselves. I think there's this, you know, as I mentioned before, this little voice inside, or maybe it's not even, I don't even think that's the right way of describing it. It's not really a voice, but a presence inside me that wants to express itself in a certain way. And there's moments when I I do listen to it and I do let it express itself the way it wants to. And this other self or this inner self has its own, I wouldn't say consciousness, but it has its own like moral code, it has its own conscience, and it does tell me when it feels something is not right in my other outer self. I realized this the other day that I have a name for my inner self, and I guess that's a nickname I grew up with. Um my family and my brother all called me Nanita. I guess Nana for short. That's what I use when I'm writing to my inner self or when I'm talking to my inner self. I don't just say Adriana, how do you feel? Or Adriana. I always say Nanita or Nana. And I just like that distinction that even in my own mind I can have that it's the same, I'm the same person. You know, it's the it's me. But it's almost like it's also not me, you know, it's this other self that I feel knows a little bit more than me, but at the same time there's moments when this outer self that Adriana wants to take over, and there's a struggle, and every time there's a struggle, it's interesting to see it play out. But back to the book. So I really connected to it when I first read it. And I thought of it the other day, especially since I did the fasting, and of course it it made me realize, oh, I want to share this information because I forgot how pertinent, how important it was to me to hear these words and how much of an impact it had. To start off, Yesudian says, Man is a mysterious marvel, moving between the two death-bringing factors of time and space. The fact that his days are numbered requires him to awaken out of his dreamy slumbers and recognize the power of his being and the limitlessness of his self. True and enduring happiness can only be attained in a healthy frame. The struggle for health is hard, and the victor must conquer both body and soul. This requires time and patient work. Be conscious as a whole, and you will reach this goal. Our world today needs health more than anything wealth has to offer. Begin by refusing to tolerate any negative influences, either mental or physical. For disease is a lack of positive life force, a void in the constitution which ends in the collapse of the system. And there are yoga systems that start with disciplining the mind, and then some that control the emotions, the feelings, and then there are those that take the body as a starting point. And it is recommended that you start with the body, control of the body. And this is called Hatha Yoga. Our body is enlivened by positive and negative currents, and when these currents are in complete equilibrium, we enjoy perfect health. The positive current is designated by the letter ha, which is equivalent in meaning to sun. The negative current is called tha, meaning moon. The word yoga has a double meaning. On the one hand, it is equivalent to joining, while the second meaning is yoke. Thus, Hatha Yoga signifies the perfect knowledge of the two energies, the positive sun and the negative moon energies. They're joining in perfect harmony and complete equilibrium and the ability to control their energies absolutely. That is to bend them under the yoke of our self. So this system is unique in the whole world because it consciously perfects the body and it compensates for any physical defects and fills it with glowing life force. Hatha yoga leads us back to nature. It acquaints us with the healing forces dwelling in herbs, trees, and roots, teaches us more about our own body and forces acting within it. And this leads us to the close harmony of body and soul. The body reacts to every impulse of the mind, to the slightest impulse of the mind. And the state of the mind is powerfully influenced by the condition of the body. This reciprocal relationship is utilized by Hatha Yoga, and mind and body are made healthy. The path to be followed is that of making our body and all of its activities conscious. Even the sympathetic nervous system and all those organs whose functioning is usually independent of my consciousness, can be made subservient to my will. The incalculable advantage of this is that any malfunctioning can be prevented, and the body can be saved from diseases which originate in functional causes. The Hatha yogi who has reached the highest level of ability has complete and absolute control over his body. He can regulate at will the activity of his heart, his digestive organs, and the functioning of every organ in his body. Yogis of 80 or 90 years give the impression of being 30 or 40, and that by Western standards, they live to an incredibly ripe old age because they can recharge their bodies with new life energies at will. Hatha yoga is not an end in itself, but rather a preparation for a higher spiritual yoga. In a sick body, it is very difficult to develop consciousness and quicken the mind to a higher level of activity. For this reason, we should first get acquainted with the forces acting within our bodies in order to be able to control them properly later. Then our body is no longer an impediment during our climb up to higher mental and spiritual planes. The goal we must strive for can only be this: liberation from the prison of the material world. Let us therefore not mistake the ends for the means. The true Hatha Yogi uses his abilities only when he can assist others through their use. The yoga student realizes that everything that lives in time and space is alive because it carries within itself polarity and rhythm. The positive pole is on the top of the skull, at the spot where a hair forms a whirl. This point is easily located on a child's head. The negative pole is in the coccyx, the lowest vertebra. Between these two poles, there is a current of extremely high frequency and short wavelength. This tension is life. The carrier of life is the spinal column. The nervous system serves to transmit the life current. Finally, this vehicle of life, moving on two feet, was given a name. Man. Life within man became conscious of itself, and consequently, it spoke and said, I am. Life within us is what man refers to as I within himself, the ever living, immortal self that was never born and can never die. For the self is life and life cannot die. But the body is only the clothing, the outer garment of the self, an instrument by which it manifests itself on the material plane. Man carries within himself the positive sending and at the same time the negative receiving, resisting characteristics of his being. Within his personality, which is woven of contrast, he must preserve complete balance, join the opposites together, supplementing each by the other and reconcile them within himself. Only then is he whole and healthy and able to perform his earthly task. The law of the spirit is selflessness, whereas that of the body is selfishness. And yet man must learn to join the two in complete harmony and to manifest them in himself. A person who is whole does not use the body as an end in itself, but as a vehicle for manifesting the spirit, unselfish love. I really love that part, how he mentions that. I think this is why I wanted to share it with you all, because we forget so often, uh, this happens to me all the time. I mean, the tendency is to always focus on what we don't have, on what we want, what we need. And our inner self, there's that other self that is in us, some part of our consciousness that is occasionally reminding us that we have a higher purpose. I mean, of course it can be argued. You know, I've had lots of arguments with friends of mine where where the other person will say, Well, what is the point? What is the point of living? What is the point of existence? I do have an answer now, based on some of my experiences that I've lived through in the past. But I think this does bring up that question of a reminder that we we also are soul, we also have spirit, but there is something in us that we do not understand. How all this vast network of functions inside us, it's almost it's so intricate, so powerful, a lot of these forces that are the cell repair or the cells um replicating, and how a wound heals in your body. There's so many things that are so fascinating and that man to this day I don't think can ever recreate. And I think that's what makes it beautiful is that it works by its own rules. Nature has these rules that it follows that we do not understand. And yes, we can study and try to figure them out, but they confound us because we have no real answers. But I I love that Yesudian brings up that point that the law of the spirit is selflessness because it's almost like nature comes and also reminds us that part of our consciousness that that is constantly telling us we are more than just our physical body, we are more than our physical needs. We can survive even without food and water for a while, and we are more than than our thoughts, we are more than our feelings, we are more than I think together as a whole, we can be more. And I love that it's that combination that this book is so focused on. Is is it's not just strengthening the body. Let's do yoga, let's develop and tone the body. That's not what this is about. It's the body is a tool, the body is an instrument for the spirit to exist, and therefore it is a duty to keep it healthy. It is a responsibility to nurture and love it and treat it correctly and treat it respectfully, since it is a vehicle manifesting the spirit. So let me get back to the book because uh he makes a lot of really great points. The consciousness of the average man is still on a very low level of development. For that reason, the radiation of the life current within his body is only conscious to a very low degree. For the most part, unconscious and automatic. The body of a person on such low level of development is much less alive than that of a person on a more advanced plane. The latter has many more convolutions of the brain. His nervous system is. Much more closely woven, his body is a much more willing and elastic vehicle for himself. The movement of the more conscious person we characterize as graceful, supple, and beautiful, while we refer to someone in whose body the expressions of life stand on a lower level as clumsy or awkward. That's been me for a very long time, or it was me. I don't know if things have changed. I do feel things have changed slightly, and it only comes through becoming more conscious. The expression is much more mature. That is, we discover and recognize in it the universal self, our own being. If our self is in this condition, if it rests within itself, there is a complete equilibrium in the life forces we radiate. In this case, our mind and our body are both healthy. In persons on a lower level, the equilibrium can be easily upset through ignorance or as a result of inadequate consciousness. Such persons fall out of their self because the unconscious part of their person is bigger than the conscious part. This disturbance of their equilibrium also expresses itself in their way of thinking and in their spiritual life. If there is not a perfect balance between the two life energies radiated, there develops the condition we call sickness. A major prerequisite for health is, therefore, that of gradually expanding our consciousness and leading it into all parts of the body. In this way, we can avoid disturbing the order. We can prevent disease. And if sickness is already present, we consciously and intentionally restore the condition of order. Now I'm going to go into what he calls the civilized appetite. The Bible tells us that man was allowed to live in paradise as long as he had not eaten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The very moment when he tasted of this fruit, however, God drove him from the Garden of Eden. What does this mean? He explains it like this: man is a connecting link between spirit and matter. His highly developed brain enables him to manifest his divine self on the material plane. His body belongs to the material world ruled by the laws of nature. Animals are vehicles of nature, living in a closed circuit of natural forces, and therefore they cannot sin against nature. They manifest natural laws completely, automatically, and directly. They are incapable of applying these laws at will, as they have no highly developed consciousness such as that of man. Thus, they are always living in a state of paradise and cannot fall. I do want to pause because that's such an interesting point. I when I first read that, I mean, it blew my mind. Of course, I was a lot younger. I was in my early 20s, but just reading that and connecting it to what I had read in the Bible, it symbolically it made perfect sense. What does what does it mean to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Like, what was that huge sin that Eve or that Adam and Eve committed in the Garden of Eden? Why did God drive them out of the garden? And this is something I I like to explore even in my art. Obviously, I did a performance piece where I explored blushing, which is connected to the Garden of Eden, because shame. It wasn't till Adam and Eve felt shame that they realized they were naked. And therefore, and even I think the name Adam comes. I'm gonna have to look this up. I do have it in some other notes. I'll do an episode on blushing, but I think in Hebrew, Adam stands for um the reddening of the face or uh blushing in some way. It's connected or of the earth, something red like the dirt, or something that has to do, it connects, you know, earth and and the life, and you know, when there's blood in your cheeks, that's when you blush. And it's like suddenly blood is being rushed to your cheeks. But going back to uh the point of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and of good and evil, I like that it says that animals cannot sin against nature, but because man has this higher consciousness and is aware, has that choice, the fact that man has free will is what separates him from the animals, and I think it also allows him to live in a state that is not of paradise, which I think is what he's referring to, that animals can live. Animals live in a constant state of paradise because they don't get to choose whether they want to use these laws of nature or not. They just do them, it's a survival. That's the only way they can live. Let me continue. He explains it in this next paragraph. Man, however, through his intelligence, has the possibility of getting acquainted with those laws as long as he only learns and knows the laws of nature. The divine order is not disturbed, and he can continue to live happily in paradise. The tree of knowledge of good and evil stands before him, but he must not partake of its fruit. That is, he must not make an end of itself of his knowledge of natural laws. Nature reigns in our body through the two world-moving forces of the instinct of self-preservation and that of propagation of the species. The serpent in paradise, the great temptation, is just this very possibility of turning instinct into an end of itself. However, if man places his intelligence at the service of his instincts, he immediately falls from his state of paradise and becomes unhappy. As long as he is not conscious of his spirituality, he actually uses his intelligence to make a source of pleasure out of the natural laws. And I think that's what he means by falling out of the state of paradise, which makes perfect sense to me. You know, it it just like blew my mind when I first read that like all the dots were suddenly connected. That when we use any of our instincts, any of the instincts, as an end in itself, as a source of pleasure, instead of treating them as they were designed, which were for natural purposes. Natural laws that is when you sin against nature, that is when you feel shame. Shame kicks in, I believe, because of this misuse of the natural instinct, this misuse of the natural laws. And you sin against your own body and you sin against your own spirit because that universal spirit that lives inside you is of the highest order. And when you are using your body for these selfish, self-preserving instincts, when you're using them to fulfill just a selfish need or desire, you're not even doing it for the highest good. The intention has changed, and therefore it it no longer has the same life force, the same energy. This is where I'm trying to get to is that we have this higher consciousness that is constantly guiding us, and we have that choice to follow the the rules, the natural rules, the consciousness, the highest good. But we also have a choice to revert to just that lower level of existence, that naivety, or that in a sense, or this state of paradise where we can live as animals. But I think to live more than to live at a level that is more than the animals does require much more greater effort, and therefore it has to do with this point he mentions at the beginning. If you place the intelligence as a servant to the instinct, to the body, this higher intelligence that is the spirit, your higher being, and you put it at the service of the instincts, of the body, you're almost inverting the design of nature, and you I'm sure you experience what we know of as shame, as guilt. I know that we have that responsibility almost. I think I believe that in our lives we have this responsibility to be the best we can be. And maybe it requires this that he's talking about, which is using our body for the highest good as a vehicle of the spirit and and not just for these small desires and selfish needs. Then he goes on to talk about food. It is a natural law that the body must replenish its exhausted energies, it needs nourishment. Nature works in our body, and when the organism needs food, the demand is signaled to us through a feeling which we call hunger. In as much as hunger means that there is a deficiency, it is obviously our duty to overcome this shortage and eat. In our consciousness, we experience the restoration of order through the operation of natural forces as pleasure. And therefore, it is just as natural for us to take pleasure in satisfying our hunger. Recognizing this pleasure, man has made it an end in itself, a means of enjoyment. In other words, he has eaten of the fruit of his knowledge. He no longer takes food in order to maintain the efficiency of his body as nourishment, but now considers eating to be a source of pleasure. Intelligence stands over matter, over the body, but man has debased it and subordinated it to the body, making it into a servant a slave of the physical. It was not enough for him to satisfy a healthy hunger. He went on to invent all kinds of stimulants in order to enjoy the pleasures of eating long after his body had no further needs. A supreme example of such a sinful attitude is found in the practice of the old Roman aristocrats who used a peacock feather to induce vomiting. With stomachs thus emptied, they could continue their feasting. Man's palate now lost its natural reactions. It no longer reported to the brain that it needed nourishment to maintain the body. The overstimulated condition of the palate caused it to seek satisfactions, even when there was no necessity. And thus, civilized appetite, man's constant craving for food and drink was born. I like that he makes this distinction of hunger on one side, natural hunger, and then civilized appetite, which is modern man's craving for food and drink, and the pleasure that we get now at every little turn with every little snack, every little latte or drink. And then he goes on to explain hunger is natural. It is nature's signal that the body needs food. Appetite is unnatural, for it only represents a wish to satisfy the overstimulated palate. And as this wish does not arise from a healthy need for food, we overburden our organs and make our bodies sick. I think he makes a great point. And it isn't just the abstract concept of, oh, you know, what he mentions of putting subordinating, oh, man has subordinated the intelligence and has debased it because it made it a servant and a slave to the body and to the physical instincts. It's the fact that it is actually getting us sick. It's like a machine. You overstuff a copy machine with paper. We we're getting the body sick because it's overstimulated. You know, the palate is overstimulated. We stuff food into our body. How do we not expect it to combust or to have problems? He mentions if we watch how people sin against their bodies, turning food and drink into a means to ruin their health, we need no longer wonder why there is so much unhappiness and disease on earth. Civilized man has become so accustomed to this unnatural way of eating and drinking that the abnormal seems normal to him. And he doesn't even notice how he is sinning against nature and his own health. When we compare our way of eating with that of wild animals living according to nature's laws, we immediately recognize the terrifying difference between natural eating and drinking and the civilized eating and drinking, which in reality is nothing but a constant craving for pleasure. Who has ever seen a thirsty animal that wanted to drink beer, wine, or sweetened syrups diluted and charged with carbon dioxide, Coca-Cola? No, when an animal is thirsty, it wants water. And the fact that human beings have created so many other options when the one thing that is the best for our body is natural water. From our own experience, he says, we know that after physical work and after perspiring freely, only pure water will completely quench our thirst. And at such times, this is what we want to drink. Anyone who's ever exercised or climbed a mountain or done any long, strenuous physical activity, we know that when we're thirsty, what we really want, all we want is water. Nothing really quite satisfies us in those moments. And it has a delightful taste of its own when you're actually that thirsty. It is entirely different from what people seek when they're merely enjoying something. When out of sheer habit they sit with friends in a cafe, a tea room, or a bar to chat and load their stomachs with some tasty, stimulating liquids, not in the least required by their body. Of all the beverages, beer, whiskey, liquor, cognac, and all the myriad kinds of aperitifs, none of them tastes as good as pure fresh water after a few hours' work in the fields, a climb to the mountaintop, or some other healthy form of sport. What a difference there is between simple natural food eaten after physical exertion in order to satisfy a healthy hunger, a real hunger, and then the over-refined, over-spiced, good things that we take to gratify an overstimulated civilized appetite. Children and wild tribes living on a childlike plane of development still enjoy healthy, natural hunger. Primitive races prepare their food very simply. They also eat fruit in a raw state. Very early in life, however, children are spoiled by their environment. Parents and grandparents want to win their young ones' love and give them sweets and chocolates. In this way, through falsely manifested affection, they spoil their children physically and mentally. On the physical side, the child's healthy instinct is deadened. It accustoms itself to eating without being hungry for the sake of enjoyment. Thus, its craving for pleasure is awakened early in life. On the mental and spiritual side, this arouses a selfish instinct in the child. At that early age, it begins to take advantage of the love of its relatives by expecting gifts constantly and begging for them. Irrational, civilized man also spoils the animals living in contact with him. The unfortunate dogs, cats, birds, and other creatures, which are so unlucky as to become the pets of people who live unnaturally, lose their native instincts, and develop a craving for tidbits and dainties, which they want to eat all day long without hunger. Just like their masters. And their masters, to please them, give them sweet meats which undermine their health and shorten their lives. The whole question is excellently illustrated by the story. There's this story he brings up about this old lady's dog. So this old lady takes her pet dog to a veterinary. The dog is as fat as a sausage, and the lady complains that he's lost his appetite. For a long time he's only eaten veal, cake, and cream, she says. But now he refuses to eat anything at all. The veterinary consoles her. Just leave him here with me. I guarantee that in two weeks he will be so completely cured that he will eat wild pears with great gusto. Although she scarcely believes him, the lady does as the veterinary suggests, and she goes home. Two weeks later, she comes back to fetch her pet. When the veterinary brings him out, she can scarcely recognize him. He is slender, vivacious, and agile. The doctor throws him two wild pears, and the dog instantly pounces on them and devours them. The doctor and she says, Doctor, this is a miracle. How in the world have you done it? And he goes, Very simply, those two pears are the first food he's had since the day you brought him here. So the whole point, the dog had recovers its natural hunger through a healthy fast. Its digestive organs had recovered from their overburdened condition. Its heart and blood circulation were relieved and strengthened through the slenderizing process. And its entire body had again become a manifestation of nature. Civilized man's craving for pleasure not only shows up at mealtimes, but also in the train, at the theater, at the concerts, or at the movies. People are constantly picking and nibbling at something. We always have some chocolate in our pocket, and at every opportunity we stuff a piece in our mouth. How then can digestion function properly? So this is a great point he brings up. And this is actually what I was thinking about during my fast was my dynamic with food. You know, somebody offers you like sweets when you're at a a party, at a meeting or something, there's cake or there's cookies, donuts. And of course, because food is so easily accessible now in this day and age, of course, back when primitive men or back when, you know, people of other ages had to go hunt for their food, they had to experience, you know, hunger and go days without eating sometimes because of the the differences in the way we live now. Modern men, we just drive to the grocery store. We can now even have groceries delivered to our door right now. If I really wanted I want some fast food or I want even some other type of snacks delivered to my door and I'll get them. And I don't even have to move. And that's, I think, dangerous is that we have gotten to that point where it's so readily available. We don't have to make any effort at all to get food. And not just that, we just we abuse our body by stuffing it so much. And I'm guilty of that, you know. I before the fast, before the fast, I was trying to eat healthier. I was doing some research, I was looking into like keto diet or even not even doing the full diet, but just looking into changing what I'm eating to try to be more conscious of the type of food that I that would do good for me. So I did start researching things that will optimally benefit my health and everything. And it's hard because there's a lot of information out there, so it's also hard to figure out what is true. You know, there's there's so many studies that have been done and and research that suggests this one thing is great and then then this other thing is great. But I think what Yesudian is saying in the book is that what we really have to do is just pay attention to nature and listen to our own body, you know. When you feel hungry, that's a good time to eat. And and we can also just stop eating when we're no longer hungry, when we've satisfied that need. But the fact that we go, oh, but I'm craving a red velvet cupcake, or I'm craving this or a soda, or I want a ginger beer or popcorn or whatever. I understand that it's normal to treat yourself occasionally. But when you do think of the function of the organs and the body in the long term, more so than the short term, what will actually keep you alive longer? What can prevent some of these things like cancer? What what are foods that that are good for the brain that don't cause inflammation? Because I've also read about a lot of different foods, you know, of course, alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes, all these types of things that we know are not good for the brain, that they cause inflammation. And yet there's so many herbs and roots and natural things you can take that actually help digestion, that help the body, they actually stimulate the brain and help it grow and develop correctly. And then he moves on to another one of civilized man's greatest sins, the temperature of food and drink. This I wanted to get to because I noticed after my fast, the thing that really, really hit me while revisiting these subjects is that I cannot pretend like I don't know anymore. I read this. I'm not gonna ignore the fact that I have this knowledge now. And it's so hard that when you learn about things that are healthy for you and you still do it, because then you're consciously sinning against the body. It's not just unconsciously this time, you're consciously doing it. So he mentions the refrigerator, a blessing when used properly, has been turned into a curse. When it's used to keep perishable foods fresh, the refrigerator is a blessing. When misused to enable us to serve food and beverages ice cold, it is a curse. Ice cold food and beverages have an injurious effect as soon as they are in the mouth. The enamel of the teeth becomes cracked and loses its ability to fight off mouth bacteria. The result is tooth decay. The mucous membrane of the tongue is also affected. Without noticing, its delicate sensitivity is impaired. The tongue has the task of recognizing the finest shades and tastes so that we can guard ourselves against entry of any kind of spoiled or poisonous food particles. Adult tongue cannot perform this task perfectly. The mucous membranes of the throat and the stomach are also affected. The gallbladder and the liver are seriously attacked. It is no wonder that such a frightfully high percentage of civilized people suffer from acid stomach, stomach ulcers, inflammation of the gallbladder, gallstones, and liver and pancreas disorders. The most dangerous thing is ice cold fruit. Fluids are more quickly warmed to body temperature than pieces of ice cold fruit, especially when they are not thoroughly chewed. Such pieces of badly masticated ice cold fruit lie for a long time in the stomach, not only cooling the mucous membranes of the stomach walls, but also the organs in the vicinity. Nearly the same can be said for hot food and beverages. Whether the mucous membranes are attacked by cold or heat does not make a great difference. In any case, experience shows that deviation from a healthy temperature in what we eat and drink paves the way for cancer of the throat, stomach, liver, and pancreas. Let us take animals, for example. Have you ever seen a cat that drank milk ice cold or boiling hot? No. Even when her unreasonable master gives her such a dish, the cat will wisely wait, no matter how hungry she is, until the milk has cooled off, or if it's ice cold, until it has warmed a bit. Only then will she start to lap it up. Yoga means that we live and act with nature and not against nature. We can only conquer nature when we not only know her laws, but also recognize and obey them. A musician can only conquer an instrument and music when he respects, recognizes, and obeys the rules of music and the instrument. Just like the body is our earthly instrument and we must respect its own laws. During World War II, this is Yesudian speaking. During World War II, I was able to observe how after the siege of a large city, the people who had previously spent their entire day sitting in badly ventilated offices were now required to move away rubble, carry beams, pool carts, and even build walls if they wanted to have a roof over their heads. Often they had to travel many miles on foot to get their food. The result was that even those who had been leading a life of suffering and misery due to digestive disorders, stomach ulcers, chronic stomach or intestinal catar, gallbladder disorders or other diseases, and who had only been able to live by a strict diet, were suddenly able to eat the heaviest foods, beans, yellow peas, or cabbage, digesting such foods excellently. They were thoroughly cured of their ills. They lost their civilized appetite and recovered their natural hunger. Let us not wait until destiny forces us to live naturally. Let us begin consciously of our own free will to bring our vital functions back into their natural ways. He then says the yogi conquers appetite and opens the way for the development of natural hunger. He only eats when he is actually hungry and chews each bite ten times as long as the Western man, until it is thoroughly insalivated, and he does not swallow it until it has been chewed into a milky mush. From the viewpoint of the prana current, this is extraordinarily important. After reading it, I'm conscious of it now. So now when I'm eating, of course, after the fast and after I read all this, I've had to find ways of making my food room temperature. So I take it out of the fridge earlier so it can be ready by the time I have to eat. Or if it's or if I do heat it up, I try not heating it up that much for the sake of my stomach and everything I read about and how it I just don't want to harm my organs anymore. And I just want to unburden them as much as I can. And then when it comes to chewing, I also started to become more conscious of it. So now when I'm eating and I am trying to eat quickly, I actually have a really hard time swallowing my food if I haven't chewed thoroughly. Because I end up feeling like I'm not treating my body correctly. So it's not that I kind of feel a little guilty. So when I'm doing it, that higher part of me is telling my inner cell or is telling me that I can treat my body better, that I know what is good for me. And so now when I don't do it, of course I feel terrible. And so now I am just working on making a conscious effort, on making time to eat so that I can be present when I'm eating. I can chew my food completely. I'm not just, you know, scarfing it down. And I know that does take a bit of changing your dynamic and approach to schedule or at work, it's a little harder because I have to eat very fast. Because I don't get a lunch. You know, sometimes I have to go long hours without eating, whatever, but all I can do is do the best I can do with what I have. And then Yesuddin says, according to yoga theory, all food, especially raw green vegetables, fruit, milk, milk products, and honey are filled with prana, which is absolutely necessary for the maintenance of life, energy, and health. Just as the nose is designed to absorb prana in the air for the purposes of health, the mouth is the absorptive organ for prana in food. Every atom of our food contains an infinity of food prana, and the prana liberated through thorough mastication is absorbed by the organism. It penetrates blood, flesh, and bones in order to be stored up in our nervous centers so as to be available to the organism. The true benefit of food is not only in its nutritional value, but in this indwelling prime energy of prana. Primitive men only obtained food at infrequent intervals, which I know I mentioned before, by the sweat of his brow. And in the face of great dangers, because it came so seldom, he enjoyed and relished his food. This is also a commandment of nature. For according to the finding of Western medical science, food must be thoroughly mixed with saliva for the stomach to be able to digest it. Western city people are predisposed to stomach disorders because they eat in a hurry and do not take sufficient time for chewing, so that their stomachs are not able to cope with the inadequately masticated and hastily swallowed food. That is something that when I first read the book, it blew my mind because I had never even thought of it. Like my parents did always say, No, eating is important. We would all sit together. My mom didn't like it when we would each go into our rooms and eat separately. It was not only a time to spend time with the family, but it was also a time to relax and let the food, you know, to give attention to the food we were eating. But I never thought of it growing up. And of course, as soon as you leave home, or as soon as I left home, I would just do things the way I wanted to. And I forgot, you know, I or more than anything, I just took it for granted. I didn't even think it would make a difference. I didn't know that the way we eat, the temperature of the food, I didn't know that the attention we give food, the time we spend eating, that that's also a ritual, that that's also a a sacred moment. Because not only does it convey that we are grateful that we are alive, we're nourishing the body. But a lot of the time, you know, before this, I was not even conscious of that, any of those thoughts or feelings. I just thought, I gotta eat in order to like be okay a little bit later for the next few hours, or like, oh, I'm craving this, I'm gonna make, I'm gonna eat this, or I want this. I had no respect for my the organs in my body. I didn't ever think what's gonna harm it, or what is best, how can I best treat my body so that my body can therefore serve humanity and the highest good in the best way possible. I never had these thoughts. It was all more selfish. It was very, I'm hungry or I'm craving this, I'm gonna eat this, I want this, and you know, I'm gonna eat it. I'm just gonna eat it because I so that I don't die or because I know I have to eat, or from pleasure or desire to eat a certain thing. But it never came from this feeling of duty or responsibility of I love myself, and and if I have something to give to society, to humanity, by being a vehicle of the spirit, by maybe doing something good for others, I also have a duty of keeping myself healthy and alive and treating my body, all my organs with respect and dignity and you know, and treating them in the best way possible. I'm gonna continue. Uh Yesudian mentions the mouth is the antechamber of the stomach, and nature has provided this tool with the most magnificent grinding equipment, the teeth. If we do not use this grinding mechanism, how can we expect the stomach with its soft walls to cope with our food? It is forced to increase its chemical treatment and to produce stronger digestive juices and more stomach acid. Hyperacidity of the stomach results in stomach ulcers that have their own cause in our impatience and in our badly chewed food. As a result of the great adaptability of nature, this organ, the teeth, if not utilized in accordance with its design, degenerates and decays. In order to supply our teeth with an abundance of blood, we must use them vigorously. Our teeth obtain a generous flow of blood about their roots. There would be no brittle teeth if children were taught early in life to chew their food thoroughly. Among animals, there are no decayed teeth and no stomach disorders, except among those animals which have been spoiled by the cooked and lifeless food of men, and which are thus not forced to use their teeth according to nature's design. Thoromastication is very important for many reasons. Horace Fletcher states that every bite must be chewed 30 times before we swallow it, and that it should be chewed partly on the right and partly on the left side. This will have an excellent effect on the digestion. The constant practice of this method will protect us from numerous stomach and intestinal disorders, or heal us if we are already affected. Not only that, but I was listening to a podcast earlier. I had heard this, I think, months ago, but and I just got the book. It's a book that uh was brought up by Andrew Huberman in a podcast I watched recently, and it's Jaws, the story of a hidden epidemic. The reason I bring it up, it's because they talk about it is by Sandra Kahn and Paul Ehrlich, and they mention how chewing even at a very early age, if you just eat a lot of liquids, smoothies or things that are not chewable, your jaw actually it changes your face shape, and that it can actually, you know, they did some tests and some research, and he mentions that uh it can actually make you quite unattractive, and that a lot of it also has to do with mouth breathing, which I will bring up in a later episode because I know there's um in the in this yoga book, he there's a chapter about breathing, of course, because it is a yoga, a yoga book, and so breathing is one of the most important parts of yoga. Before you can even start doing any of the postures, you have to learn how to breathe correctly. Breathing is highly important, and the way you breathe is also very important. And in that book, Jaws, The Hidden Epidemic, it talks about how breathing can change the shape of your face because of certain muscles that are not being used. So if you're me breathing through your mouth, you're not you're not only getting less air into your lungs because that is what the nose is for. That's what it's got the nose that that is what the nose is for. It's it's designed to kind of check the particles that pass through the nose and to prevent certain things from getting into the nose. And that's a type of prana, which Yesudian mentions in in this chapter as well. But in the other chapter, he talks about prana that is air, you know, the breathing prana is different from eating prana. But all of this just to say how important it is, every every natural law, every design, every tiny detail of the way the body functions goes by these natural laws, and it's there is a correct way of doing it so that your body can be at its full functioning hundreds. So that you can focus on on other things, so that you can actually do whatever you're meant to do. But if you're not even treating the body correctly, you're not even eating correctly, you're not breathing correctly, you're not chewing correctly, all of that will affect the state of your being, which is what he talks about when he mentions that you get sick when there's an imbalance, when there's something that isn't being done correctly in your body. Then he brings up food. He mentions, let your food be natural and simple. You can eat a mixed diet. The meatless diet of the Hindus is not a general rule, as the necessity for eating meat is actually dependent upon climatic conditions. Because in the tropics, meat eating is dangerous, harmful, and entirely unnecessary. The colder the climate in which we live, the more justification there is for eating meat. For the population living in hot zones, the prohibition of eating meat has become a religious rule because it was designed to protect people who had no idea of hygiene from the injurious effects of a flesh diet. But for an Eskimo living in really cold weather, who, for reasons of convictions, decides to give up eating meat, he would just starve to death. So in the far north, there are no coconuts, no bananas, and no pineapples with their great nutritional value to replace meat. The Eskimo is forced to eat blubber and drink seal fat in order to maintain his body temperature in the cruel Arctic cold. For the person living in the tropics, the mere thought of seal fat would be horrible. But if he were transplanted to the Arctic, he would quickly feel the same need and would soon lap up seal fat with the same relish as the Eskimo. The term mixed diet in Hatha Yoga means that meat should not be the basis, but rather only an accompanying dish in the daily diet. Predominantly, we should eat fruit, vegetables, raw salads, milk, butter, and honey. One who can obtain these foods does best if he eats meat just very sparingly. You can eat meat, but it should be seldom. And you should eat more fruits such as onion and garlic. Garlic is one of the best preventatives for cancer. Rubbing the gums and teeth with garlic or biting into onions and garlic in order to let all their juices reach the roots of the teeth provides excellent protection against disorders such as gum bleeding and recession of the gums. In India, the Brahmins teach their disciples if you want to achieve wisdom, eat more onions. Eating garlic is also a preventative for premature old age. Everyone should eat at least one lemon daily summer and winter. The most up-to-date rheumatism specialists prescribe the juice of two or three lemons daily, telling their patients to eat the grated rind mixed with honey. It is suggested that you mix the lemon juice with honey so as to prevent excessive acid from doing any harm to your body. Also, the quality of food must be in harmony with the requirements of the organism. We must adapt ourselves to the climatic and personal conditions. Everyone needs his individual special food, the person who does physical work and the one who performs mental work. It also makes a difference whether a person works outdoors or inside. Meals should be eaten slowly with attention and concentration on the food. If we come home tired, we should rest at least 10 to 15 minutes because a tired body has a tired stomach and cannot digest food as it should. Food gives strength and we should never, ever eat when we are angry or dominated by another negative emotion. If we eat while in such a mental state, the energy derived from the food will serve to strengthen our anger and our baser instincts. On the contrary, we should always eat food with feelings of reverence, gratitude, and humility toward providence for supplying us with our food. In this way, our mental and spiritual powers and our more noble characteristics will be enhanced. Saying grace at the table is one of the religious rules found among all peoples of the world, and it is proof of the above mentioned truth. Moderation. Western man tends to make the mistake of eating too much and too fast. Every mechanic knows that excessive heat and too much fuel prematurely wear out the machine and leave harmful residues behind. The impurities which collect in the body as a result of an improper diet are eliminated from time to time through disease. A typical cleansing disease is influenza. Nature uses high fever to burn out the wastes which have accumulated in the body and which do not belong there. At times these poisons are eliminated from the body through the formation of secretions and catar. A predisposition toward influenza exists only among people who eat too much and eat predominantly of waste forming foods such as meat. It is characteristic that in good times, when Western populations were well nourished, influenza epidemics raged almost incessantly, whereas during the years of famine, during the war, the disease disappeared almost entirely. The people had not poisoned their blood by eating too much meat and too much food, so that the task of digesting and eliminating this excess from the body could not exceed the capacity of their organisms. Too little nourishment seems to be less harmful than too much. The human organism can get along with surprisingly little food and can, when necessary, offset nutritional deficiency through water and air. On the other hand, the body is unable to cope with an excess no matter how hard it may try to eliminate it. If we continue eating to excess, the uneliminated wastes are deposited within the body and the organism is forced to clean house with a fever. According to an Indian legend, Allah meets out to each person when he is born a certain amount of nourishment to last him through to the end of his days. If we consume this food too quickly, we die earlier. The more sparingly we eat, the longer we live. In recommending moderation and a sober asceticism, the Mohammedan legend, the Christian Bible, the Llamas of Tibet, and the ancient teachings of the Indian Maharishis all agree. Then he goes into talking about the mind, which I wanted to do an episode where it brings together not just the body, but the mind because they are they work in conjunction. Every disease has mental causes. I am the way, the truth, and the life. In its true nature, the self is shining, perfect, spotlessly pure, and without sin. But when it took on material form, a body, it acquired the sin of matter, the sin of the world. The fact of being dependent on matter and time lowered its consciousness. There are no two people whose degree of consciousness is equal. Human consciousness develops in different ways. In one individual, the experiences and impressions are brought by the consciousness to a higher stage of progress in the very field in which in another individual they are degenerating. So if an open wound is made on our body, this wound is healed by the life force with astonishing accuracy and with a perfection man himself could never attain. Its adaptability is almost limitless. The same force draws the delicate shoot out of the seed and often forces it through a layer that is a thousand times harder, all in order for the stems to reach the sunshine. If a seed falls into a crack, it can split the boulder. Whatever the circumstances, life must conquer. I like that point because he's talking about how powerful the life force is, the fight for life. And I think I guess it's a funny reference. Uh, anyone who remembers the Jurassic Park quote, you know, life always finds a way. I know that movie is fictional, but the Sudian has a point. The body, no matter what irregularities, no matter what happens to it when you break a break a bone and you don't, it doesn't heal correctly, the body finds a way to heal regardless. And it's going to heal and is going to continue no matter what. A living organism does not get sick as long as it lives according to the primitive rules of nature. Health is nothing else than a life under natural conditions. Disease is a result of unnatural living. Modern civilization forces us into an unnatural way of living so that life force can only protect our health to a limited extent. We neither eat, drink, sleep, nor breathe, nor clothe ourselves properly and naturally. A person can manifest the creative force individually in every degree, from the spiritual plane to the material plane as positive and negative energy. Here he brings up those two forces or those two opposing forces again. He is balanced if he utilizes his powers in the proper manner, i.e., inwardly negative and outwardly positive. These people tend to create something out of nothing, spreading life and fruitfulness all around. Inwardly, in the direction of divine radiation, they are negative. They receive, they accept intuition. They believe in themselves and have faith in their own self. Outwardly, they are positive. They give, they create, they produce. On the plane of their mind and emotions, they are in balance and healthy. They radiate joy, confidence, love, kindness, and warmth. They also accept love that radiates towards themselves and therefore that balance. If we utilize our forces in the opposite way, our body will fall sick. So this is another way we get sick. It isn't just through the physical, it can be mentally. Some people do not believe in a higher self that gives life to their person. Instead of opening the way for the eternal source of strength dwelling within their soul, they lock the door through their doubts and suffer a lack of self-confidence. Such a person always looks elsewhere for help. He is powerless and helpless. He is afraid of everything and sees evil everywhere. He ruins his own life through his disbelief. This kind of person is like a vacuum into which everything falls and disappears. A bottomless pit, a negative force that absorbs and completely neutralizes every bit of positive energy with which it comes into contact. The mistake begins with the words, I never succeed at anything. I'm not good at anything. In doing so, you set up a wall that takes a very great effort to tear down. If someone wants to undertake a good and useful thing, never discourage them. We will succeed if we believe in what we are doing and approach it correctly, if we have enough self-confidence to be able to master the difficulties. The negative individual expects help from the outside, not from within. He is selfish and has no understanding for others or for himself. He is morose, despondent, peevish, and complains constantly. He has no love, but expects others to love him. He does not know what true love is. He only knows passion. What he thinks is love is nothing else but desire for something or somebody. Through the circuit of the nervous system, the mind directly affects the body. If our mind gets out of balance, this causes such strong shocks and fluctuations that the nerves are shattered. Since the work of the bodily organs is guided and controlled by the nerves, this impairs the health of all the organs of the body. Everyone realized the close connection between the functioning of his or her organism and the fluctuations of the emotions. The disturbance occurring in the consciousness causes various mental diseases. I like that this chapter focuses on how we can self-sabotage. And I know that term gets brought up a lot, but I like how Yesurian connects it to the body and how at all moments we are aware that as soon as if a negative emotion comes up, if a negative thought comes into your being, it changes, it directly affects the body. It causes fluctuations and the nerves are shattered. So it continues, destiny, with all the experience and troubles it brings, likewise causes a constant expansion of consciousness. But as we constantly grope in darkness, we pay for our ignorance and the unequal distribution of forces, allows thousands of different diseases to come upon us. Disease always arises from the fact that one of the two life currents has the upper hand over the other. So he brings up again the imbalance, how easily, how quickly it can just affect your entire, not only mental state, but your body, the state, the equilibrium of the two forces of the body. If we overstrain the body's life force, either through exaggerated sexuality or through excessive mental work, this causes increased combustion. The body is exhausted and falls into a negative condition. Its resistance is too low. Such negative diseases are turbercased tuberculosis, chronic inflammations, allergic disorders, stomach and intestinal ulcers, convalescence, neurasthenia, and depression. Positive diseases are those acute disorders accompanied by a high fever, inflammation such as pneumonia, tonsillitis, nephritis, neuralgia, and infectious diseases such as typhus and scarlet fever. The organism is constantly trying to maintain a balance. I think that is what the body is just always doing is trying to maintain homeostasis, not only physically, but with the mind. Rage, fear, grief, sorrow, fright, jealousy, despondency, pessimism, and similar negative impulses undermine the health, destroy the nervous system, and lower the resistance of the whole organism, making it more susceptible to disease and delaying the healing process. The greatest danger that can threaten a growing child is the imposition of its mother's nervous fears. Young mothers try to protect their children from every draft and forbid anything and everything that would tend to teach them courage, endurance, and self-confidence. Such mothers pour into their children a slow working poison and do them lifelong harm. We should raise our children so that they do not know what fear is. That is the most beautiful, most valuable heritage we can give them. Most of humanity is afraid. Fear of sickness, poverty and misfortune, worry about losing loved ones, fear of death, and even just fear of fear itself. He brings up a quote from the Bible. What you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Therefore, do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? What shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For your heavenly Father knows what you need. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. He is talking about a mental serenity which knows no fear, outward thoughtfulness, who places his unqualified trust in the higher order of powers, and who knows how to control his emotions. Hatha yoga exercises have a wonderful effect on the struggle against fear. They give you the basis of physical self-control. The body reacts to every mental impulse. Thus, the emotions and passions, through their destructive effect on the endocrine glands, are the implacable enemies of health. The most important glands are the thyroid, pineal, pituary, suprarenal, and sexual glands. All disorders, even infectious diseases, are the result of mental causes. Ayurveda is based on the fact that diseases are myriads of bacteria. Some yogis state that they only attack a person who himself opens a breach in his own soul. Paracelsus, a Swiss physician, taught that the best protection against every disease is a noble mind. I think the reason he mentions all of these things is just to say that mind over matter pretty much. In combination, if you are able to somehow learn to control the thoughts you have, your emotions, your attitude, your state of mind, if you bring it to this state of peace, if you find ways of keeping that equilibrium uh on a mental state, on a mental plane, you can actually also keep the body in equilibrium, because of course the body he mentions examples that I'm not going to read of how anger actually gets your heart rate going and blood rushes to your face, to your head. Because whenever someone's angry, you say, Oh, I'm seeing red, you know, and also just Rud, you know, a person gets really red when they get angry. And then there's other examples when it comes to other different types of emotions. When you get anxious, your body starts going through these like almost um crazy upheavals. You know, there's so much happening within the body that even to calm the body down, that's why he says it's not good to eat when you're feeling any strong emotion, because the body's not even prepared for food at that moment. The body is barely even able to create any homeostasis, any sense of balance. So it it just proves that they all work in conjunction. If we find ways of stealing the mind, everything I mentioned in that first episode of quieting quieting the mind, of learning to talk to yourself and learning to calm yourself down from those moments that when you get triggered, which is not easy. And I say this from experience, because I have gotten triggered often, and even recently I had a moment where something just triggered me, and I experienced a lot of growth in that moment, and I bring it up because it's important in terms of my transformation. When I do get triggered due to some of the trauma I have, my body not only starts to get um in this kind of panic attack mode, the fight or flight instinct, but I usually need help from the outside. I need to I need to talk to somebody, or I need to um, I used to obviously go drink over this, or I would find a way of numbing the feelings because it was too much to deal with, because I didn't know what other way to calm myself down in those moments to just find some kind of peace and bring my body even to a state of balance again. And what I experienced recently at a moment where I was getting triggered that I find very beautiful is that I was feeling a lot of things, I was feeling very confused. I felt fear and shame and guilt, but I didn't know where it was coming from, and so I decided to that it was okay, first of all, which was very reassuring that you know that it's okay that I don't know, it's okay that I don't have all the answers, it's okay that I don't even know what I'm feeling, and I just let myself process it, I let my body feel it. I did do some breathing exercises and let myself just breathe, but I didn't have to call anybody, I didn't have to find other ways of numbing my feelings through distractions or entertainment or even, you know, just finding other food or any other way of stimulation so that I could not face the feelings. Instead, I just experienced them. I lived through the feeling, I allowed it to inhabit me for a while, and I I just let myself breathe. And then I decided I'm just going to go to sleep. Tomorrow will be another day. And it did take a few days, even just to process the the confusion that was going on mentally. But looking back, that was probably the best I've ever dealt with or handled, a situation like that. And I think that has a lot to do with different things I've been doing, so and things I've been learning, you know, and even when it comes to the body and yoga and finding ways to connect to my environment and the present moment so that my body and my mind can connect in those moments. Because what I've read that happens during trauma, a traumatic trigger, is that your prefrontal cortex shuts down and your emotional brain takes over completely with the instinctual brain, the reptilian brain. And what is happening there is that it doesn't allow you to think rationally. So all the fear, all the emotions just take over completely, and they overwhelm you and they overpower you, and it takes you out, it like sucks you out of your body. Uh it's a way of like they've done brain scans, and that part of the brain actually shuts down the rational part. And so it's almost cutting a connection, it's severing the mind and body connection in those moments during those triggers when you're experiencing trauma again, you're reliving it. What some researchers and some psychiatrists say is that the best thing to do in those moments is connect to the body. Do some form of physical movement or activity, whether that's focusing on your breathing, that's why breathing exercises so are so important in those moments, or um, engage in dancing, some sort of karate or um tai chi or even any physical movement, singing, playing an instrument, I I'm sure even drawing, writing, something that connects the mind and the body together at that moment, so that you can connect to your environment as well, that pins you down in the present moment and it grounds you to where you are now. And that helps you realize that that you're okay, that nothing's going to happen to you, even though you might feel like you're in danger or the fear is so overwhelming that you you feel you can't trust anything and you you're overstimulated because everything just feels dangerous and unknown. Because it's your brain, what it's doing is it's taking you back to the past. You're reliving the trauma. And therefore, when you live through a moment where you're getting triggered and you learn how to consciously connect your body to your mind at those moments, and you find ways of calming yourself down and rationally telling yourself, you you slowly allow the prefrontal cortex to take over instead of shutting down. And instead of, you know, the emotional brain taking over, you allow the rational part of your mind to take over. And that slowly establishes peace and balance because it lets your, it it tells your body like, oh, nothing is happening. And this is the present day. You're not in the same situation, you're not in danger right now. You might have felt like you were in danger back then, but you are not in danger today. So I just bring that up because I thought that was so powerful. The the power of the mind and how when you separate them and that connection gets severed, it's never good. It's not it's dangerous when the two are not working in harmony, as Yesudian mentions. Uh, he also states every reaction of the organism intended for self-protection, including the readiness to fight off bachilli and infectious material, is demonstrably dependent upon the mental condition. The mental influences within certain human limits are effective with greater force than chemical, medical, and toxic effects. Going back to how powerful and strong the mind is, telling the body and controlling the body. It is useless to kill bacteria if the patient's resistance remains low. For as long as this condition prevails, the bacteria will multiply again, or else another pathogenic agent will appear and attack the organism. Yogis prevent the disease through maintaining the equilibrium of currents. Or if this has been disturbed and a disease is already present, they restore the balance between the two currents. In this way, the organism conquers the disease through its own power and returns to permanent health. If the balance between the two currents is perfect, then our mental equilibrium is perfect. Therefore, we must begin by setting the mind in order. Every accident is a self-punishment of the individual. Every decision, every act, every movement has its point of origin within us. The over-self uses our thoughtlessness or a moment of danger when we have no time to reflect and must act instinctively. The pent-up, selfish, isolating forces avenge themselves upon us in such moments. They produce a movement which harms us instead of the one we would like to make, which would do us good. The individual whose mind is in equilibrium will always make the motion which is the most appropriate, the best for him or her. He will not let any dross to build up an insulating wall between his personality and his higher self. And therefore, in moments of peril, he will be able to rise to the highest plane. His ear is open for inner inspiration and like a person who is all-knowing or illumined, he seizes the one possibility that will save him from danger. When my acts are always motivated by impersonal, unselfish love based on the universal self, my mind will be peaceful, balanced, and healthy. I like that he brings up that point because I heard this a lot in the AA program. My sponsor always told me that you know when it's when you're acting on your own self-will or when it's a God thing by the amount of peace you feel when you're doing something. So if something, if a decision or or an action someone does or you do, gives you anxiety, you know that it's not coming from the highest universal self. You know it's coming from some selfish act, whether it's yours or somebody else's. And so whatever action thought brings peace, that you know you can trust is the highest good at that moment. That's the next right thing to do. So just wanted to connect it because I thought that was very fitting. The prevention and healing of diseases must therefore begin in the mind. Hatha yoga bases its system on the relationship between mind and body and develops in parallel the individual's abilities and physical health. This system eliminates the mistake under which a lot of Western medical science is so woefully suffering, and that is of the healing of diseases instead of healing the patient. That is such a big thing that I guess doesn't get talked about enough in, you know, at doctors' offices or hospitals, you know, like they always have a solution for your pain, you know, for managing pain or symptoms, managing symptoms. But they never there's never a focus on healing of the person as a whole, as an entity, not just let's separate and target one thing. Oh, this, oh, you have an ear infection, or oh, you're suffering from um schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. It's always separate when it in eastern thinking and eastern medicine, they focus on the entire being, spiritually, mentally, and physically. It's never separated. And lastly, he says, Yesudian says, In so much as we ourselves have caused our sicknesses, we must heal our abused body ourselves. We must obtain health through our own efforts. Hatha Yoga teaches us how to keep order among the forces which animate our body. And in case we have sinned against our health through unnatural living, how we can restore physical well-being again. An ailing individual is a burden on himself and his fellows. And therefore, the basis of Hatha Yoga is to be healthy is a duty, is a responsibility, not only to ourselves, but to the rest of the world. So I love that that's that's the main point of uh most of the book. I also heard this, actually, I heard this earlier today. Um, I was watching a podcast, and Dr. Daniel Eyman mentioned that there's a study from Stanford that started in 1921 that studied 1,548 10-year-old children. And they were studying success, health, and longevity. They found that people who live the longest, that the one thing they had in common was conscientiousness. I thought, what? He said that if they committed to something or said they would do something, they followed through with it. That they were reliable and consistent and they lived longer than those who didn't commit or follow through with something they said they would do. And he said, this proves that they have strong frontal lobe functions. So if you commit to something, if you say you're going to do something and you follow through with it, you will live longer. And this is also connected to discipline and good habits. The only reason I bring this up is because I found, I mean, that shocked me first of all. I thought, what? I had never heard this before. It actually makes a lot of sense when you think about what causes anxiety. And usually anxiety comes from not making a decision, from not committing to something. And I know Peterson brings this up a lot in a lot of the stuff he talks about. How when you do commit to things, that that actually gives you freedom. It permits you to know your boundaries, to know the bounds. And when you're teaching children boundaries, they actually will respect you more when you give them limits and you draw the lines in the sun and you say, This is what you can do, and this is what you can't do. This is you can pick your clothes, you know, you have these three options, and you can only pick one. Having too many options and not knowing, not making any decisions causes anxiety. And if you stay in that state of not knowing what you want or not committing because you have a fear that, but what if this is not the best thing? At least you're choosing something. A choice at least is an action, and and at least it will take you somewhere else, and that will make you grow and it will lead to further transformation and further lessons and further experiences, but not making a choice is stagnation and it doesn't lead to any growth, and it actually just stresses you out more in the long term. So it makes perfect sense that like that this study, you know, mentions how committing to things and following through it just it goes back to the point I was making in the first episode where when you are aligned, and in this case, you know, I know that there's ways of um aligning. I also heard that. So I heard that I heard that a really healthy thing is when that you can trust somebody whose words align with their actions. And I know Krishna Murti also mentioned that when your actions align with your words and your words align with your thoughts, that can only produce good in the highest form because your thoughts become a pattern, and that pattern becomes a habit, and those habits become a lifestyle. And the way you live your life now, you know, determines your the rest of your destiny. So I do think that might as well start committing to things. I used to be afraid of commitment, and I will say that because I recognize that in myself from past relationships. I used to accuse them of, you know, and I used to blame the other person, my partners, former partners, of being the ones that didn't want to commit. I didn't realize at the time that I was also guilty of not knowing what I wanted. I didn't know what I stood for, I didn't know my values, I didn't know what I wanted for myself. And I think a lot of this has to do with not committing to anything, to not even trying to commit. And so that fear of commitment was keeping me from growth and it was keeping me from, I don't know, trying different things. It was keeping me from living, from probably experiencing new things. Since usually what happens is that you just repeat the pattern until you learn your lesson. God always does bring you the same circumstances, the same situation in different forms until you learn that lesson. So I will end that episode right here. As always, a pleasure sharing all of these moments and information with you all. Thank you for listening. See you next time.