Sunday, July 09, 2006

Occasionally, out of the dung heap of printed matter a book rises up and shines. One of those books is: "Meditation as Medicine" by Dharma Singh Khalsa, MD. The author is both a medical doctor and a practicing Yogi. Everyone has heard of the incredible feats of Yogis...being buried for days, then dug up alive, lying on nails, walking on hot coals, all with apparently no harm. The knowledge of the Yogis goes back thousands of years...in a land where spirituality is a way of life. No rational person can dismiss out of hand the potential in this culture to aid the individual to rise above the mundane and achieve a higher level of consciousness. There has, however, always existed a chasm between Eastern and Western thought, especially regarding the health of the body. The East treats the human phenomenon as a unit, mind, spirit, body, soul, whereas the West breaks everything down onto segments, treating each one as if it had nothing to do with the other aspects of the human form. This causes disharmony and pain.

Khalsa describes the Chakra System, a series of 8 "Energy Centers" which are located at various points of the body, seven of which reside within the body and one serves as the "aura". This 8th Chakra is the connection to the Cosmos. It is a force field which surrounds the body and communicates with the 7th Chakra, the Crown Chakra, at the top of the head. The 8 Chakras can get out of alignment, blockages can occur, and the individual experiences adverse consequences. That Western man is fragmented, alienated, frazzled and duped is hardly debatable, the question is how to go about availing ourselves of the knowledge of the East to improve our lot physically, mentally and spiritually.

The techniques described in the book are very simple to understand and implement. The goal is the align the Chakras in such a way that there is an unimpeded flow of energy from the mind and body and the Cosmos. The connection with the Cosmos is of the utmost importance, as healing can only take place when communication is maintained and the mind, body and spirit are one unit. Too many people suffer from ailments which are caused by a disruption in the Chakra System. Medical doctors in the West refuse to even concede that the Chakras exist, let alone attempt to bring them into alignment.

Many of us are looking for relief, relief from physical and mental pain...pain which doctors and mental health workers have failed miserably to address. The time has come to take matters into our own hands and treat the CAUSE not the symptom. With health insurance practically nonexistent or woefully inadequate we really don't have any choice anyway....we need to take care of ourselves because nobody in the health care system, the government, or academia gives a flying rat's ass about us. The only thing they care about is money.

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