Thursday, October 3, 2013

Pain and Healing

I am coming off caffeine...again.  I started drinking coffee and tea a few months ago for a couple of reasons.  Reason #1:  I used it as a stimulant when traveling.  Reason #2:  I wanted to experiment with being less rigid in my diet.  Recently our friend, Karl, gave us a Keurig coffee maker, and that put me over the top.  Sunday, I decided to go cold turkey.  Monday I was in bed with a splitting headache.  Tuesday, I used one Keurig cup to make two cups of coffee.  I drank part of one cup...enough to ease the headache...so I could function well enough to go to my flute lesson and flute ensemble rehearsal.  Since then I have been drinking just enough to keep the headache at bay.  I think I am still detoxing since I am still getting the headache.  Now I am trying to ease off the caffeine and still function.  Tomorrow I won't drink any coffee unless I get a headache.  I have been 100% raw since Saturday with the exception of the coffee.

Living the Biogenic Lifestyle enables healing to occur.  The pain we may feel is part of the healing.  It is appropriate to be thankful for the pain.  My caffeine addiction is a case in point.  As I eliminate the coffee, my head becomes quite painful.  This indicates healing is taking place.  In an ideal situation, I would go to bed and ride it out.  I have every reason to be thankful for the headache.  When I drink a cup of coffee to ease the headache I have not made myself healthier.  I feel better, but I have slowed down or stopped my healing depending on how much coffee I take in.  This same principle can be applied to all our healing symptoms.  Anytime we stop the symptom without addressing the cause, we stop the healing.

In Nature Cure and Natural Hygiene we talk about enervation quite a bit.  Enervation is a state of depleted nerve energy caused by improper habits and lifestyle.  Many things can cause enervation including things like travel and getting over-tired.  This, too, can cause us to feel pain as the body works to heal us from the effects of enervation.

Trusting the process is a principle of Nature Cure. This isn't always easy as it puts us in opposition to the rest of the world.  Reminder to self:  Remember Carol's advice to practice well!! I wrote about it in this blog posting before I left Australia:

http://simplerawandnatural.blogspot.com/2011/11/ians-departure.html

John, Ian and I left for Cairns at 4:00 a.m.  We went to Rusty's Market...my last time.  I said good-bye to a couple of the vendors we buy from.  Carol was there shopping, as usual, so we said our good-byes.  Carol is a former client of John's who follows the lifestyle to near perfection.  She is originally from New York but has lived in Cairns for 30 years or so.  She's beautiful and very stylish.  I wish I had a picture of her, but I never got one.  She left me with the words, "Practice well."  I hope to do that...practice well.  

It is important to eat only at meal time and forego snacking.  The sooner we give up breakfast, the better.  It's best to just eat two meals a day, lunch at noon and dinner before 6:00.  This releases a great deal of energy for healing because we don't have to process a lot of unnecessary food.  As Dr. Fielder has often said, "One third of what we eat feeds us, the other two thirds feeds the doctors".  (I'm preaching to myself here.)

Many raw food teachers and alternative health practitioners are advocating colonics.  In Nature Cure we do not recommend them.  Colonics are not required.  On rare occasions an enema might be called for, but never colon irrigation.

We need to be patient with the body as it heals.  It can take several months for the energy to return.  Restoring nerve energy takes place at the cellular level, and it takes time.

Once you build your energy to the point where you feel better than you have in a long time, you will suddenly have the rug pulled out from under you as you become ill.  I can remember a few years ago wondering why I was living as healthy as I knew how but was so sick with flu...one bout after the other. This is called a healing crisis.  It can take many forms...fever, aches, pains, etc.  It can take the form of any acute illness - tonsillitis, kidney infection, hepatitis, etc.  This is the body doing its healing work. This is a time to go to bed, rest, sleep, drink water and fast.  And be thankful.

To health and happiness.




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