The New Integrated Medicine and Self-healing

For the past week I have dived into a snow-balling movement that is going on right now, which for me means a revolution in medicine. Reading wonderful authors like Debra Greene, listening to amazing enlighteners both back home in Estonia through radio and also the inspirational figures Bruce Lipton, the cell-biologist who is now an educator in the new development in genetics called epi-genetics or (beyond) genetics, and Lissa Rankin who is also an educator as to the role of stress, our belief about stress and the role of doctors in healing.

It has been an astounding journey where most of my biological base knowledge taught in schools has been over-thrown. Genes don't control us, its the signals and the quality of intent from the environment which through the membrane of the cell can either trigger genes or leave them silent, but genes can do nothing on their own and after removing genes from the cells, the cells still function in a normal way. The placebo effect is perhaps the main reason why people heal in conventional medicine. We are self-healing mechanisms. The last part was not new to me at all, but it was the mechanism and the reasons behind that was left somehow unclear.

Biology and medicine are finally tuning into the recognition that consciousness is the most important part of an organism. I find myself doing my happy dance on the inside! 
Religion on its own failed because people needed proof. We experience the world through our senses and these receptors to the outside can see, taste, touch, smell, hear- of course we couldn't be satisfied when that part of experience of life was left out of the equation. And yet science ie looking for proof is not complete on its own because there are phenomena that it just cannot explain with looking at the physical aspect only, many things just don't make sense. 
Evolutional psychologists know the importance of a faith system for human beings, without something to believe in, to trust in, and to have hope in we are living in fear. We simply do not do well with the proposition and thought-system that it is an alien, hostile universe out there that acts without cause or reason in a random way and can threaten us at any time. Perhaps this view-point is also important at certain periods of life, it can propel us through existentialism towards many dissolutions of things we do not need, but in the long run it is a non-sustaining world-view.
When we banned religion and turned solely towards science then at first that worked quite well, there seemed to be definite laws and reasons about the outside that we could figure out and then control and we had a heightened faith in ourselves. 
Of course it turned out that nature still acts unpredictably and besides that there were a lot of cold mechanical philosophical implications coming out of science like Darwinism and random competitive evolution, or the Newtonian clockwork model of the world that alienated us to a feeling of a lonely isolated machine. Still in the mercy of the unknown. 
Even in modern science the more we know about the proven facts the more crazy the universe seems, especially with the rise of the modern sciences like quantum physics etc. 
In my opinion, though people do protest this of course- science in fact IS the new religion or has turned into one. There are many things coming out from research now that show that many of the accepted "facts" of science are based on nothing but an agreement of the majority of the scientists in the past who presented it to the public as facts, and it caught up in the whole collective consciousness perhaps in the old model of faith, which ironically it was rebelling against in the beginning- perhaps a habitual track for us too strong to fight against, the path of least resistance. Really these "facts" were either partial findings to begin with or almost not researched at all, for example vaccines, aids, blood transfusions to name some. 
If you listen to the most passionate advocates of science, you will often find people who refuse to even question many dogmas of science, who ridicule people who want to seemingly put the whole thing to question which we already take solace and comfort in, by simply doing additional new research or to look into alternatives to these, as would be scientific-minded really. The only conclusion is that science simply took the place of religion in a way. 
But times are changing now, as soon as scientists started tackling the role of the mind and consciousness, in the after-advent of the discovery of the quantum world, and in the advent of a cyber-connected world of the modern era also.. there is a union happening among the open-minded and progressive scientists. Different fields of science are in fact coming to the same conclusions, conclusions that perfectly match old spiritual wisdom that the highest achieving researchers into the predecessor system for looking for answers found. 
Spirituality and science together make a perfect marriage, something that I have been hoping for for a long time. By spirituality of course I do not mean organized religion, following dogma, blind faith. I mean the lessons that ancient cultures gave us, which we simply wanted to throw away like throwing the baby out with the bath water- those of feeling like an integrated part in our own deeply respected world- like shamans did. Those of coming to contact with the higher intelligence, knowledge about the life-energy that makes our hearts beat and lungs breathe, knowledge about the essence of life, the spark that is sacred, knowledge that because everything is connected we are all tiny parts of the process but we form a whole and there is love, there is meaning- like the the core of all religions did. With remembering these discoveries of the spiritual paradigm we can establish materialism also as the yang to the yin, with creating the perfect balance.

The new research into the placebo effect and stress has developed these understandings in short about what disease is and how we heal.. 

Stress turns on the fight-or-flight program in our body, the sympathetic system. Our brains, through the secretion of stress hormones trigger the following actions in our bodies- the blood flows into our limbs, involved in self-protection, away from our brain and torso, leaving less oxygen and energy there, lessening our immune system. In a longer period of stress of course the bodies respond with disease. It seems that disease is the body's crying out to us- no! We are starved and need attention. Often it happens that people over-work and over-stress and its only when they get sick then they allow themselves to take the time out and heal themselves so in other words the body's response with disease is the only intelligent decision it can make. 

Our cells renew constantly, every few years our whole cellular body is completely new. So it is not a problem for the body to heal at all, it doesn't seem to need anything from the outside for that. Yet we have more and more prolongued and debilitating and chronic disease. This can be firstly because the stress factor remains and the body remains in the sympathetic system instead of going into the parasympathetic relaxed healing system. These signals are coming also from our emotional and mental bodies. If our cells get the signal from our thoughts- I cannot get better, there is something wrong, or our emotions- I am afraid, then the cell responds in the same way, it doesn't distinguish between perceived threats or actual threats, there have been many experiments proving this. 
Or the second signal, that dr. Lipton has talked about as well, is the unconscious programming we have been receiving from the people around us since we are very little- you have to go to the doctor, he will make you better. You may be an open-minded person with awareness of the bodys self-healing powers at times, but without the full realization on the experiential level perhaps also- the deep-rooted programming will take charge and the long-established conviction- only a doctor can make me better, I have no knowledge or power really to do that- will block the body to actually go to the self-healing stage, the signals for relaxation are not there! It is the same with people who go on a self-developing road through meditation for example. It takes a very long time for the set habits to allow our minds and bodies to fully and deeply go into the practice, even though we understand and know that it works and is good for us.
Once we go to the doctor the obstacle for healing is dissolved, belief activates the relaxation which in turn will allow us utilize our own innate healing mechanism. 

It is a question for me- whether it has any effect at all what the doctor does to you, whether he gives you a pill, gives you a placebo, or does nothing. As long as he does not upset the release of the healing program, (which unfortunately of course happens all the time and doctors even do harm constantly by causing diagnosis shocks in a patient), but performs his function of providing allowance for you to do your thing, supporting you and making you feel protected, then there is nothing wrong with going to the doctor of course. This is until we reprogram ourselves to truly believe in our own bodies, then going to the doctor, unless it is an accident and our bones need to be set, or any other assistance like for giving birth- becomes obsolete. 

So I have been thinking for some time- are doctors necessary. For those with the belief in their own innate ability to heal- they are not. But now I realise that for those still with the belief that it is the doctor who heals them- they are important. And for those who believe that alternative doctors do the best healing- these doctors are the best ones. It really boils down to our own belief-system and who do we trust, who can get us to the state of parasympathetic response. Is it you? It can be you! But many will perhaps always feel more comfortable with a support system outside them who they can rely on and who comforts them. Whatever works! Create the positive atmosphere however you like, but its that state of trust and well-being, relaxation, which is the real doctor for all of us, and there are many things we can do to increase that, including thought exercises, emotional healing from the past, meditation, yoga, healthy nutrition, exercise, falling in love with someone or better yet- being in love with life, universe and everything, including our own tiny expressions of that beautiful energy that are our bodies. Possibilities are endless! :)


 

Energy Medicine and the Multidimensional Model by Debra Greene

"According to Einstein’s famous formula, E=MC2, energy and matter are interchangeable. Matter can be converted into energy, and energy into matter. Indeed, when physicists looked deeply into matter to find what we are made of, they discovered that matter is not solid but consists of subatomic particles comprised of mostly empty space. In turn, when they looked into the “empty space,” physicists determined that it was not so empty after all, that it is teaming with energy, effervescing, a quantum froth. This energy is at the core of everything in existence.

One does not have to stretch far to see the parallels between this underlying energy-essence that connects everything and the notion of unifying oneness that weaves its way through many spiritual traditions. One of the places where science and spirituality intersect comfortably is in the emerging field of energy medicine. Here ancient methods find their home in modern practitioners’ offices and in research laboratories.

The question then arises: If everything is energy, what constitutes the legitimate domain of energy medicine? In attempting to answer this question, I found a useful model that is shared by modern scienceand many ancient traditions. It accounts for the diversity in the field of energy medicine and helps to explain a vast array of energy-based phenomena. This theoretical model holds that a human being consists of multiple layers, or dimensions, that coexist simultaneously. Although individual models based on this principle differ slightly in terms of the number of layers and their labels, there is general agreement about four main dimensions: the physical-etheric, the emotional, the mental, and the spiritual. According to the ancients, the soul is encased in these successive layers.

Versions of the multidimensional model have been discussed over the years at annual conferences of the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine (ISSSEEM), the leading organization for the scientific study of energy medicine. Elmer Green, the organization’s cofounder, a pioneer in biofeedback and psychophysiology research, used the model as a basis for his work (for more information on ISSSEEM and recordings from its conferences, go to www.issseem.org). The most substantiated version of the multidimensional model has been advanced by William Tiller, professor emeritus at Stanford University and former chair of the Materials Science department. Tiller’s contribution is significant because, after 34 years in academia, his feet are firmly planted in conventional science. His stated mission is to build a reliable bridge that seamlessly joins conventional science with the various subtle domains of inner reality and the domain of spirit. He calls his approach psychoenergetic science, and he has made important strides in revealing, in quantitative detail, how human consciousness interacts with physical reality.

Rich in heuristic value, Tiller’s multidimensional model was used by Richard Gerber, a practicing physician trained in internal medicine and devoted to researching vibrational healing. Gerber became a definitive authority on energy medicine with the publication of his seminal contribution Vibrational Medicine, which used the multidimensional model as its foundation. Meticulously researched and backed by the science of the day, the book was essentially the first energy medicine textbook of its kind. Former professor and analytical chemist Charles Krebs used the same model in his groundbreaking work on energy kinesiology (A Revolutionary Way of Thinking), and I also made use of the multidimensional model in my recent book on energy health (Endless Energy).

What Is the Multidimensional Model?

According to the multidimensional model, human beings consist of a spectrum of energy frequencies. These layers or “energy bodies” – the physical-etheric, emotional, mental, and spiritual – comprise distinct yet overlapping frequency domains. They represent the “equipment” through which we experience various dimensions of reality. Consciousness is the great mediator that connects the energy bodies and holds us together so that we function as a whole person (actions, feelings, thoughts, and volition) with continuity from day to day.

The slowest or lowest frequency domain is the physical plane, which we occupy by virtue of the fact that we have a physical body. Bones, organs, tissues, blood, glandular secretions, nervous system, and DNA all fall within the purview of the physical body. As well, the five senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling belong to the physical body. But the gross physical body needs a power supply, a life force, in order to function. This life force is called the etheric body, and it is responsible for our vitality.

According to the model, the dense physical body and the etheric body must be understood as inseparably woven together, as two sides of the same coin. That’s why the physical-etheric is typically referred to as one body and not two. Without the etheric body to animate it, the physical body is a corpse. That Western medical science developed primarily through the study of cadavers helps explain how the etheric body was missed in conventional medicine.

The etheric body is the inner substantial form, the “internal scaffolding,” upon which the dense physical body is built. It consists of a vitality-rich energy that goes by several names: for example, chi in China, ki in Japan, prana in India, or mana in Hawaii. The martial arts from a variety of cultures are based on this energy, as are the healing systems of Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture, Ayurveda, yoga, Tibetan Medicine, and kahuna healing, to name a few. The ancients knew this energy well and developed their healing practices accordingly.

Moving up the frequency spectrum, the remaining energy bodies that comprise our basic human constitution are the emotional, mental, and spiritual. The emotional body is responsible for our emotions and feelings, while the domain of the mental body is our thoughts and intellect. The spiritual body, which is the highest or fastest frequency domain, allows us to have spiritual experiences. We humans occupy these multiple levels of existence simultaneously. That’s what makes us so wonderfully complex. Most of us are familiar with the emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of ourselves, but the etheric body, the foundational component of energy medicine, remains more of a mystery.

The Etheric Body

Although the U.S. medical world has been resistant to recognizing the etheric body, mainstream culture has embraced numerous practices based on its underlying principles. You don’t have to look far today to see the popularity of yoga, acupuncture, meditation, and the martial arts. These practices emerged from ancient cultures dedicated to the complex and systematic study of the etheric body, which led to a scientific understanding of human energy anatomy. Successful medical systems based on their findings followed. This knowledge and these practices are now being validated by Western scientific methods.

According to the ancients, the etheric body is a complex energy/information matrix that interpenetrates the dense physical body and extends beyond it for several inches. The etheric body powers the physical body through a sophisticated network of energy centers, distribution lines called meridians in Chinese medicine, and the branching of smaller and smaller energy capillaries called nadis, a Sanskrit term for “channels.” This network has been validated by a number of modern scientific methods, includingmagnetic resonance imaging(MRI). The energy centers are often referred to as chakras, a Sanskrit word that means round or wheel. These, too, have been experimentally verified with electrostatic measurements as well as electromyography (EMG). It’s likely that ancient scientists and practitioners had the capacity to see these wheel-like energy centers and named them accordingly. People today who claim to see these energies have described them as looking like spinning wheels or vortices that range in size from about two to several inches in diameter, depending on their stage of development.

Chakras are like electrical power plants where high voltage energy is transformed and distributed through a convergence of power lines. The etheric body interfaces with the physical body through these power distribution lines, these meridians. This energy network corresponds to the physical nervous system. When several meridians intersect, which happens at the major nerve centers in the physical body, they become even more potent, teeming with life-force energy.

The Interface Effect

Chakras and meridians form the basis of a variety of established energy-based healing modalities and have been linked to physical, emotional, and mental health. One explanation for this is “the interface effect” of the etheric body. It is believed that the etheric body acts as an interface between the physical body and the other energy bodies (emotional, mental, and spiritual). In the clothing world, an interface performs important function –, for example, making the collar of a man’s dress shirt stiff so it can stand up. The purpose of an interface is to reinforce or add substance to whatever it is sewn into. It is usually stitched onto the inside of an outward-facing piece of fabric. This makes it invisible when the garment is completed because the interface is concealed between layers of fabric.

So it is with the etheric body. This energy body is woven onto the inside of the physical body and is “invisible” from the outside. As an interface, the etheric body reinforces the physical body, providing the energetic substance that holds the physical body together and helps it function as an integrated unit (for example, your liver stays in place and your heart beats without you having to think about it). Like a collar without an interface, if the physical body were without its etheric body “backing,” it would be limp and unsubstantiated, unable to stand up.

As an interface, the etheric body also acts as a gateway between the physical body and the three remaining bodies – the emotional, mental, and spiritual – creating reciprocity between them. Any of the bodies can be accessed through the etheric body. This is why healing modalities that specifically involve the etheric body (such as classical homeopathy, acupuncture, therapeutic touch, Reiki, Emotional Freedom Technique, Touch for Health, and other kinesiologies, to name a few) usually help with physical ailments as well as emotional and psychological issues.

The Blueprint Effect

In addition to being an interface, the etheric body serves another important function. The conventional wisdom is that genes provide the blueprint for the physical body. However, groundbreaking research in molecular biology over the last couple of decades suggests otherwise. Although genes play a fundamental role in determining our physicality, the new field of epigenetics (epigenetic means “above the gene”) has revealed another influence beyond the genes that determines whether or not a gene is used.

According to epigenetics, our genes are more like building materials than blueprints. They are the lumber, nails, Sheetrock, and fixture choices that may or may not end up being included in the physical structure. Something outside of the gene helps determine whether it becomes part of the building (or rebuilding) process. Mechanisms that potentially influence whether or not a gene gets “expressed” include such nonphysical factors as emotions, thoughts, and states of consciousness. In light of the interface effect, this is the domain of the etheric body as it provides a gateway to the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies.

It could be that the true blueprint for the physical body is the etheric body, which may contain the energy/information instructions that determine what goes into the physical body’s formation. It may also be that all aspects of the physical body, including illness and disease, preexist in the etheric body. The physical body is an exact replica of the etheric body; the etheric body is the “original.” This helps explain why energy-based healing modalities are able to produce physical effects simply by balancing the energies of the etheric body. It appears that they may be working at the level of the blueprint.

Implications

Taken together, the blueprint effect and the interface effect of the etheric body profoundly impact the physical body, from its shape and size to its ongoing health and vitality. The important energy activity happens behind the scenes, in the internal realms; the physical body displays the aftereffects. In essence, the physical body is the stage where emotions, thoughts, and spiritual energies play out their ultimate expression.

The multidimensional model, and the etheric body in particular, help explain why there’s such a high incidence of relapse with conventional medical approaches. One can fall sick with any number of illnesses, get treated, and then become sick again. The illness may not be truly healed because addressing only the physical aspect potentially leaves the “energetic signature” of the illness intact. Indeed, the energy bodies may hold the key to complete healing.

Recognizing and working with the energy bodies may also provide an accurate early detection system. Since, in this model, any physical ailment preexists in the etheric body before it manifests on the physical level, we don’t have to wait for an illness to show up in the physical body before correcting it. We can be pro-active by focusing on the energy bodies first, keeping them healthy and balanced. This is something that can largely be accomplished with education and self-care – a much more cost effective and much less invasive approach than medical interventions on the gross physical level.

Energy medicine is an idea whose time has come. Recognition of the energy bodies is what defines energy medicine and sets it apart from allopathic approaches. As far as we know, every healing system on the planet recognizes the existence of these types of energy except for one, conventional Western medicine. But as the therapeutic effects of energy-based healing methods continue to be substantiated, this is bound to change. It’s time to put the soul back into medicine."

Noetic Now Journal | Institute of Noetic Sciences

Ayahuasca, part 2- HEAVEN

Alex Grey - Theologue

Entering the second session with the master-plant took an immense effort, just the getting ready for it. Never in my life had I been so out of control, powerless and afraid. To choose to enter that world again was one of the hardest things I've had to do, my breath was unsteady and heart trembling. It didn't help that much that the shaman was saying not to enter with fear, that if I entered afraid, I would only have more of the same, more of fear. How easy it is to understand yet how do you force yourself not to be afraid if your only experience with the plant is that of utter hell. So instead of thinking- don't fear, I was saying to myself- remember to open your heart and love. Positives do work much better.

This time as I gulped down the brown liquid, a quarter of a dose of the night before, I wasn't asking for a lot other than- treat me kindly.. :)

Regardless of such a small dose, the effects were once again immediate. Straight away I was in the same place, the nasty place of vomiting and life-less soulless fear circus and playground. Ugly horrible noises- I thought- I cant believe this- I'm here again, I couldn't believe WHYEVER people do this thing, why was I doing this, AGAIN!!!

But soon I realised that it was different this time. I was able to stand back, probably because of the lower dose. I wasn't overwhelmed or drowned in the other reality, I could open my eyes and come back to my mattress. So I relaxed, got over the wish to just keep purging, focused, let the circus be, let the fear be. The shaman had told me that the shapes I had seen had all been doors and she was right, it turned out that the same hell was like a gate-way. The horrific clown-demons were gate-keepers with a simple test- can you overcome fear and turn it into love? Only with an open heart can you cross over to the magic side of Ayahuasca!

A different universe started to emerge. The crude shapes turned finer and finer. All corners smoothing out. Where only one or two colours had prevailed, now all the colours of all the chakras started to come through and build a cosmos like no other. Somehow my body was cleansed deeper than ever before, somehow for the first time in my life all my energy centers were open, all of them involved in co-creation.

From time to time I was still seeing a face of a demon-clown here and there, but now somehow I felt no judgement or fear for them. I was beginning to feel the unified and I had a clear knowledge that the demonic and the soulless also had a place in this whole.

How can I describe the next 3 hours other than that it was being in pure, unconditional love and bliss. The whole indescribable universe which opened up was like an organic interconnected 3D web, painted and shining with the light-beams of all the colours of the rainbow. I kept flying through this miraculous place, in which every millimeter was so full of detail, so intricate, so ornate. It was constantly being born, new vistas, new details, every intricate millimeter of its fabric turning ever more intricate and then molding into something different once again. Flying over stunning landscapes of green hills, oceans, rivers between canyons with round bridges over it, volcanoes. Meeting nature itself, I saw countless animals and birds and fish, mainly those of the Amazonian jungle but also for example koalas and platypuses and elephants, leaving me in a soul-quenching state of connectedness with Mother Earth in all its glory. I saw the images of Buddhas everywhere, especially during the first minutes, this in particular was giving me a feeling of security and support at that time. I also kept sighting an Eye on every corner of the highway of heaven. The eye always seeing, always open- sometimes the eye of a cat, sometimes that of a puma, sometimes human, sometimes also a face with three eyes. The meaning of this is self-evident as the shaman said- the third eye feeds off the heart, with an open heart the center of intuition cannot remain closed.

There were pyramids and pharaohs- in general so much detail it was impossible to remember even a fraction of all I saw.

It was a journey and it felt complete, which made me realise I was witnessing something like the blue-print of the evolution of consciousness and of the Earth. It was flowing and glowing with such gentle pure love and such overwhelming beauty that I couldn't stop crying while I had the biggest smile on my face.

I saw my friend, who was with me in this retreat, and had struggled a lot with the first night as myself, dancing under a Sun bathed in a golden light, free and wild and liberated. And in her own vision at that time she was actually dancing, free of fear, liberated! In fact somehow as a group I found us in a connected web of minds, and the link accessible through Ayahuasca, truly amazing to see intuition at work.

Love was everywhere. I saw the Man and the Woman standing hand in hand in front of a sunset, and the Man and the Woman again making love while suspended in the universe in front of a huge burning Sun.

There was one instant I wished to see a loved one in my vision and tried to mold the creation that was. Yet suddenly the flying avenue of light burst in a short-cut and there was a breaking black gap in the flow. I saw what happened and I laughed at myself for not being happy with the absolute perfection I was already witnessing. This was perhaps one of the most meaningful of all the lessons from this experience. Even while in sync with the source, and having entered this state because of one thing and one thing only- by being a witness and thus letting the natural power of love and life that each of us possesses, move us into a higher state, we as humans can get so confident that we forget to be witnesses and try once more to use a limited tool of the personal mind to "improve" that which is naturally, to fulfil our little wishes of the ego, thus losing that which took us there, the act of letting go, equanimous observation, thus losing the connection.

I kept traveling until the vision started to slow down and everything came back to its point of origin. Not surprisingly all the roads made of light went back to a huge pumping heart, now filling my vision, all the energy of the world started and ended there and I think that is what the Ayahuasca is mainly a teacher of. Its not the mind that is so important, the mind is the tool for seeing, but the heart is the core, the beginning, without the heart no higher goals are possible, love is the key.

I went to sleep slowly because the happiness was too deep and I felt full of energy. Everything was shining, even though it was a dark night. The sky was full to the brim with stars and my dreams were full of a flight of a bird.

How different was the next morning from the one before. At the breakfast table, instead of the previous shattered tired frightened faces, disorientated, lost; were shining creatures who looked each other in the eyes with love, gratitude for sharing the journey, open helpfulness.

Our last ceremony was the ceremony to the mother Earth or Pachamama. We held hands in a circle and sent back to eachother and to mother Nature all that we had gained. The feeling of unconditional love can only grow from giving back. The hands were pulsating with energy. We each made a pledge to commit to trying in whatever way to return the love and the shaman burned a bundle of symbolic presents to Pachamama, consisting of all manner of things like coca and tea-leaves, sugar, strings of gold, salt, even wine, in a small fire, the ashes remaining on the soil and the good intentions flying up with the smoke to the skies. Afterwards everybody hugged eachother, such a feeling of love and humanity! It was so beautiful to be able to speak freely with love and gratitude, to not be hindered by any of the communication patterns and games we usually are enslaved to.

I felt my heart was completely opened by this absolutely incredible plant mixture for that time. But I know that this was just a lesson of the path. Being a free and happy human being has nothing to do with one, two, or even twenty-times of experiencing the light. It is about working every single day to come to that place again, for our habitual tracks are strong indeed. It is not enough to rest after witnessing the beauty of human potential, and its dangerous to feel an achievement of overcoming ones blocks after going through such a hard time because that time is past now and life is in the present- the shamanic lesson from Ayahuasca is about working every day to keep the heart open. My heart in particular is a feeble, changeable creature. It opens to close to open again. It is a difficult path but I am in awe and full of deepest gratitude for the push from Pachamama to keep on that hard path. In total awe of the miraculous wisdom of the plants of Ayahuasca.

Thank you Etnika's Shamanic Retreat, Cuzco, Peru!

Ayahuasca, part 1- HELL

Dear ayahuasca,

I had no idea how much power could be in a plant.The wisdom of mother Earth itself. Thank you for helping me, for putting me face to face with your beautiful teaching about fear and love, about the raging hell and the soaring absolute heaven present in all life, this planet and my own little soul.

DAY 1
HELL

First, before attempting to describe one of the most powerful experiences of my life, I would like to clarify something about the profound shamanic healing therapy that the use of the master-plant ayahuasca is. It is not to be taken on lightly, in fact it is one of the most powerful (read-difficult) ways of healing. The practise has to be entered first with courage and second with faith. Even if we do not have a faith system of our own, we do have to have faith that the shamans and the people involved during this process, know what they are doing. Never under any circumstances is it for people who simply want to see visions and just to have some entertainment, diversion or an experience. It is a time-honoured pure and natural gift from the deep jungles of South America, it is an ancient wisdom of the shamans for the purpose of healing and nothing less, and it has to be felt, respected and honoured. Before the actual intake of Ayahuasca the shamans were doing for us a ceremony of coca-leaves, asking permission from the plant itself and from Pachamama (Mother Earth), asking whether we had enough courage, enough heart, enough faith. It took some time for the favourable answer to come, but the ceremony did force us to unite as a group and get into the right spirit. 
And even then- with respect and just barely enough courage to enter, one should be prepared to come face to face with the deepest darkness of oneself even though of course everyone hopes to see some light. It is in fact the darkness, that is intended to be released and that is the main purpose of this pracise for if we had no darkness we would not even be on this plane of earthly school of life. With this note I will try to share how truly astounding and helpful this therapy can be. 

Fear. 

After the first session of ayahuasca, I am truly shocked that I have survived and I am astounded that no matter how much I was convinced at that time that I was dying, I am still here. Fear is indeed a thought, just like the shaman said. But oh my god- did I have a lot of that.

It started with a little cubic swirling demon-clown peeking into my vision- peekaboo! There wasn't anything threatening about this figure, or from hindsight about any of the scenery and characters I encountered on my 3-4 hours long vision quest. Yet it's hard to describe how it makes one feel to suddenly be in an altogether different reality, to have everything one is accustomed to and depends on, taken away. So when all of a sudden I was in a universe I can best compare to surrealistic cubic art- with all kinds of shapes like triangles, squares, but more than that- grotesque, moving, living shapes- coming at me at full speed and frightening intimacy, I was not prepared. It was a full universe of not only picture but also sound, all the formations were making horrible loud clicking, grinding, ticking sounds (later the shaman explained that this is the way the ayahuasca plant wakes up in the nervous system, a sign that it has reacted with the brain). Also the sounds of people vomiting all around me did not help to ease me into it, rather made everything more hellish. The vision shapes were not just objects, yet they were not fully alive either, there was something cold about it all, empty of soul.. It was like a huge surreal circus, also akin to being inside a huge multi-coloured clock, every devilish cube and tube kept winding up and coming at me.

I tried to open my eyes but the vision was there even with open eyes. It was at this point when everything spiraled out of control for me. Suddenly I felt the nausea which is the main cleansing tool of the vine Ayahuasca. The mixture used actually consists of two plants. Ayahuasca, the vine, acts like a carrier for Chacruna, another plant, which is the component that carries the active ingredient of DMT- also known of late as the spirit molecule. The Ayahuasca helps the Chacruna carry the DMT to the brain, after which it exits the body via a purge. A stunningly beautiful and perfect process of nature. 

The mixture had been swirling around my circulation for some time now, it was so easy to feel it from the first few minutes- a bit like a surge of electricity, a hot stream, bubbling at times like a hot spring of Mother Nature. It started by descending to the stomach, down my arms and legs, making a circle and moving up through the spine to the brain which is when the peekabooing started. Almost everybody vomits it, the shamans hold the vomiting the most important of the whole process, as a tool to get rid of the bad energy accumulated through the years. The more you vomit the better and if some poor souls go through 5-7 sessions of only purging and no visions, tired and disappointed at the "only negative", the shaman will smile and be happy of their progress. Some people have difficulty keeping the bitter brown liquid down for more than 5-10 minutes, I managed until about 15. And then things got really ugly. 

The setting of the therapy looks a bit like an army hospital at night. Mattresses lined up against the wall of the "patients". Darkness because the eyes cannot handle light during this process. Next to each of the mattresses the essentials- a bucket for purging, tissues for cleaning up, a huge bottle of water. And of course the participants, all wrapped up in warm clothing and sleeping bags as one of the side-effects is also freezing. 

So after 15 minutes the nausea was incredible, never-before experienced in my life. And the visions were all-encompassing, devouring me, drowning me. The vomit was the plant mixture come to life, engorged into a huge black-green vine-serpent. The bucket was a huge long black tunnel, where I was falling down along with the serpent next to me, circling me, which was at times turning into a demonic face which was making purging sounds and telling me- purge! I felt it was the vine itself speaking to me. So I purged, it was impossible not to. It was impossible to stop, the nausea just kept growing. Suddenly I could not move my head and I had to gasp for air. The collar of my jumper felt like it was choking me, killing me. I kept wanting to hide under the blanket to get away from it all but there was no getting away. I was concentrating with all my might to breathe, relax, change the vision, but nothing helped. I needed tissue and water but whenever I tried to feel around me for these, firstly the movements made me too sick and secondly I had no idea where I was or of orientation. Everything I managed to touch was soft and fuzzy and the wrong shape and texture. I felt I was losing control over the whole of my body, paralysed in fear. I kept trying to breathe as I held my head.

At some point I realised that the shaman was singing and that the helpers were making a fuss around me. I had heard them talking around me for some time but I was convinced it had nothing to do with me, so removed was I from reality. I couldn't make out any words, they seemed coming from a million miles away, also it seemed I had forgotten all English, none of the words made any sense. The fuss they were making made me feel two-fold. First- it was giving me a tiny bit of hope, just to vaguely know that there was somebody out there, far far away from the circus of animated cubism where I was, but there. At the same time it made me feel more nervous about my current state, I knew I was bad, but until then I had no idea that I was the only one having problems at that time. Why was everyone so quiet, why weren't they gasping for their lives like I was?! 
I had forgotten that I am highly sensitive to stimulation such as this, over-sensitive compared to most people, had forgotten to tell the shamans to have a lesser dose. But it was too late of course. In hindsight I know that the dose was too much for me, but I also know that I was helped so much namely because of the extremity of the experience and that there is a deep wisdom in life which never gives us more than we can handle.

At this time, though I was far away from the voices next to me, I heard a clear and loud sentence from a young 15 year old shaman apprentice (a very talented girl, in real life seeming like an ordinary teenager, but during sessions proving herself highly powerful and intuitive)- OPEN YOUR HEART! I knew this was the truth and what I had to do. I felt my heart closed, over-powered with fear and blocks that had accumulated in me which I kept releasing but which kept growing back. 

Because all this time I had been gasping over a bucket, there was a time when one of the helpers had removed it to empty it. At one horrifying moment I had no bucket, I was feeling like another purge, yet I could not open my mouth to ask for it, I could not move my hands to locate it, I was powerless, helpless, sick in torments of hell. After the helpers finally returned me to my tunnel of flying serpents, the bucket became the most important thing in my life, all that mattered. I kept feeling it. It disappeared you see. While it was under my hands, the whole molecular nature of the world was twisting constantly and sometimes becoming absent altogether. The bucket swirled, disappeared, I could never be sure if it was there, if it wasn't, the space around me was empty and not empty at the same time. Had I entered some kind of quantum reality of uncertainty?- it certainly felt like that. 

The Universe gone cubist, soulless and clownish was still raving away at me. I was drowned in it, utterly lost, with no power at all. I honestly thought that there was no come-back from this reality for me, that I would stay lost in it forever, thus forgetting the exactly opposite point the shaman had made in the preparatory talk, where she asked us to remember, no matter how we felt, that nothing lasts forever, ayahuasca, like anything else has a life-span in our bodies, an energetic curve. In other words the teaching of anicca- things always rise to pass away. 

How long passed I have no idea, it was a timeless hell. But there came a point when I heard and finally understood what one of the helpers was saying to me- relax, just relax.

So I tried again. At first I couldn't understand where was my bed, I still couldn't sense this reality. The longer I kept my eyes open and concentrated, the more I started to see however. I was on my bed still- yey! Only sitting diagonally over the bucket, that's why I hadn't been able to find anything. Slowly I lay down and after many more bouts with nausea and sitting up again to dry-purge, I could at last, with one hand on my life-line the bucket, just to make sure it was still there, rest for a while. There were still the physical feelings, of freezing and being on fire at the same time, but I was alive and back.

Other than facing terror I managed on that first night to also open my heart. While the helper was leading me down the stairs later to go to the bathroom, I felt my heart burst open in the sweet pain of over-whelming love for her. She was leading me a small step at a time, I was completely blind and I felt so much humility and gratitude, for the helpers this whole scene must have been so hard, so difficult to witness, and to try to help- when the people are as lost as that, on the border of staying lost. I hadn't felt that moved for a long time. 

And coming back, resting and relaxed, still under the effects of Ayahuasca, I heard a thought- BEHOLD BIRTH. When I looked at my experience with this thought, I understood. I had asked from the plant to help remove the blocks for me in my path of self-realization. It's crystal clear to me now that the only obstacle I ever had was fear, from a young age. Fear of this insensitive world, fear of failing, fear of succeeding, fear of taking the first step, fear- first and foremost- of not being good enough. In order to remove that block- fear, there was nothing else to do other than to put me in the deepest fear possible. And what is the deepest fear? For some its death, I have met death and made peace with that. What is the next in line as to the fear-experiences though people tend not to remember this one? Birth. Looking at it, birth seemed exactly similar to my vision. A dark long tunnel and a completely alien world around me all of a sudden which makes no sense and because it is completely unknown and alien is utterly terrifying. Shapes we don't know coming at us, talking a language we do not understand, it's just sounds, shapes, colours. Us being completely helpless, we have no control over our bodily functions. We want to tuck away somewhere warm and dark, a comforting place that is our only experienced reality at that point. Oh the compassion I now feel for a baby being born! What a trauma!

The day after, like a new-born babe, I felt like crying all day. The whole day-time, spent alone and in noble silence, still mostly in fasting like in the day before, I was preparing myself with meditation on the heart. I knew the heart was the key, I knew that all that was necessary for this experience of rebirth was love. I was scared to death of the next session, but the shaman had promised me a small dose and I couldn't leave the process half-way, come what may. 

A musical interlude- some of my favourite Estonian ethnic folk

Where else to go other than to more music and back to the roots. Sharing a few of my current favourites from Estonian ethnic folk scene. Enjoy!




Chorus: "So much life So much light So much silence and  graceful clarity above the sleeping fields"

This one's an old Estonian folk song about a girl who's being tempted by men with gold and silver, but she blows them off and lives for herself and the beauty of the world.

"He promised to carry me in his arms for my whole life

And to give me the treasure below the end of the rainbow

I replied to him: ''I'd rather drown myself than give in to the temptation of gold!''

Up and down, with un-tied hair I swing down from the edge of the sky 

Free as a bluebird
To fly here and there
when love and joy fills my chest
It's beauty that keeps me in this world"

"From within darkness 
I find my head
So you never have to 
stay beside me as a guard
Once again I am buying stars
from the sheer light of the sky"


And finally one of my all-time favourites, this ethnic metal band is simply class. The message of it nicely tying up to my previous blog and forming a circle..

"Everyone has a song of their heart Its different for everyone Everyone here has their own song but I can't find mine"

Ikaros, true names, and preparing for Peru

Only one measly month to go till another adventure, another exploration, this time in South America.
It was always the shamanic culture of it that called me, even though I have experienced that also in my native Estonia, which is still somewhat embedded with the same traditions. Same same but different as they say in Asia. :)

Anyway I very much intend to go to the core of it, all or nothing like always. These past couple of days have been spent in preparation for a part of the journey I am at once both most excited and also most nervous about. Research about the shamanic healing tradition with the plant mixture ayahuasca. If such a thing as research is possible.

One of the most enthralling and magical parts of the research has been the introduction to ikaros- plant spirit songs. It's simply such a beautiful idea that I have no trouble at all in trusting and that has an ancient wisdom behind it which I believe we all intuit through our collective unconscious. To basically believe that every single entity- plant, human or mineral, and even concepts such as peace and fear- have their own individual waving pattern of energy and sound. Similar to mantras in the East it also coincides with the concept and notion of a True Name. 

"A true name is a name of a thing or being that expresses, or is somehow identical with, its true nature. The notion that language, or some specific sacred language, refers to things by their true names has been central to philosophical and grammatical study as well as various traditions of magic, religious invocation and mysticism (mantras) since antiquity." See the page on true name in Wikipedia here

The notion of a true melody is to my mind an evolutionary step higher from a true name. How beautiful to envision that every single entity has its own melody, everything has its own song, and if we know this song, we commune with another truly, through the very essence!
Here is an example of ikaros- a clip from a beautiful documentary on ayahuasca "Other worlds" which you can watch online here



"One of the most striking features of Amazonian mestizo shamanism is the icaro, the magic song, whispered, whistled, and sung. The term icaro may come from the Quechua verb ikaray, blow smoke for healing, or perhaps from the Shipibo term ikarra, shaman song. The icaro is given to the shaman by the spirits of the plants and animals, and the shaman uses it to call the spirits for healing, protection, or attack, and for many other purposes as well — to control the visions of another person who has drunk ayahuasca, work love magic, call the spirits of dead shamans, control the weather, ward off snakes, visit distant planets, work sorcery. As one mestizo shaman puts it, you cannot enter the world of spirits while remaining silent.

Communication between the shaman and the plants through the icaro is two-way. Francisco Montes Shuña says that the icaro is the language of the plant. “If you have dieted with the plant and have not learned its icaro,” he says, “then you know nothing.” The icaro is the language by which the shaman communicates with the plant, and through the icaro the plant will reply.

In possessing these songs, the mestizo shaman is not different from shamans found among indigenous peoples throughout the Amazon, for whom songs are a key element of the healing ritual. Anthropologist Jean Matteson Langdon considers the South American shaman to be distinguished from the ordinary person in three ways that constitute the shaman’s power— the visionary experience, the acquisition of spirit allies, and the acquisition of songs. Among the Araweté, “the most frequent and important activity of a shaman is chanting.” Anthropologist Graham Townsley puts it this way: “What Yaminahua shamans do, above everything else, is sing.”

There are thousands of icaros, and shamans assert their prestige depending on how many they have in their repertoire; an experienced shaman will haves scores of icaros, perhaps more than a hundred. The uses of these songs are as varied as the needs of shamans. When the icaro arrives, one may know its use immediately, or its use may become clear as one continues to sing it. There are icaros for calling, for protection, for learning, for exchanging knowledge, for healing". Src

"One ayahuasca vision showed me how all levels of existence, including material and non-material levels as thoughts or feelings, have vibration, or sound underneath their surface manifestation. If one can reproduce the sound, vibration, or "song" of that which you are working with, you can enter into it and change it around! The shaman does just this using themselves as an instrument to effect the joining." Luis Eduardo Luna

Warrior of Light- Paolo Coelho

Painting from summer 2012, I think I shall name it "Alchemy", and will elaborate on it in some later blog perhaps... It simply seemed to fit the theme

Excerpts from "Manual of the Warrior of Light" by Paolo Coelho


A warrior of light knows that he has much to be grateful for.
He was helped in his struggle by the angels; celestial forces placed each thing
in its place, thus allowing him to give of his best.
His companions say: 'He's so lucky!' And the warrior does sometimes achieve
things far beyond his capabilities.
That is why, at sunset, he kneels and gives thanks for the Protective Cloak
surrounding him.
His gratitude, however, is not limited to the spiritual world; he never forgets
his friends, for their blood mingled with his on the battlefield.
A warrior does not need to be reminded of the help given him by others; he is
the first to remember and makes sure to share with them any rewards he receives.


A warrior of light knows that certain moments repeat themselves.
He often finds himself faced by the same problems and situations, and seeing
these difficult situations return, he grows depressed, thinking that he is incapable of
making any progress in life.
'I've been through all this before,' he says to his heart.
'Yes, you have been through all this before,' replies his heart. 'But you have
never been beyond it.'
Then the warrior realises that these repeated experiences have but one aim: to
teach him what he does not want to learn.


A warrior of light is never predictable.
He might dance down the street on his way to work, gaze into the eyes of a
complete stranger and speak of love at first sight, or else defend an apparently absurd
idea. Warriors of light allow themselves days like these.
He is not afraid to weep over ancient sorrows or to feel joy at new discoveries.
When he feels that the moment has arrived, he drops everything and goes off on some
long-dreamed-of adventure. When he realises that he can do no more, he abandons the
fight, but never blames himself for having committed a few unexpected acts of folly.
A warrior does not spend his days trying to play the role that others have
chosen for him.


Warriors of light always keep a certain gleam in their eyes.
They are of this world, they are part of the lives of other people and they set
out on their journey with no saddlebags and no sandals. They are often cowardly.
They do not always make the right decisions.
They suffer over the most trivial things, they have mean thoughts and
sometimes believe they are incapable of growing. They frequently deem themselves
unworthy of any blessing or miracle.
They are not always quite sure what they are doing here. They spend many
sleepless nights, believing that their lives have no meaning.
That is why they are warriors of light. Because they make mistakes. Because
they ask themselves questions. Because they are looking for a reason - and are sure to
find it.


The moment that he begins to walk along it, the warrior of light recognises the
Path.
Each stone, each bend cries welcome to him. He identifies with the mountains
and the streams, he sees something of his own soul in the plants and the animals and
the birds of the field.
Then, accepting the help of God and of God's Signs, he allows his Personal
Legend to guide him towards the tasks that life has reserved for him.
On some nights, he has nowhere to sleep, on others, he suffers from insomnia.
'That's just how it is,' thinks the warrior. 'I was the one who chose to walk this path.'
In these words lies all his power: he chose the path along which he is walking
and so has no complaints.


Every warrior of light has felt afraid of going into battle.
Every warrior of light has, at some time in the past, lied or betrayed someone.
Every warrior of light has trodden a path that was not his.
Every warrior of light has suffered for the most trivial of reasons.
Every warrior of light has, at least once, believed that he was not a warrior of
light.
Every warrior of light has failed in his spiritual duties.
Every warrior of light has said 'yes' when he wanted to say 'no'.
Every warrior of light has hurt someone he loved.
That is why he is a warrior of light, because he has been through all this and
yet has never lost hope of being better than he is.


A warrior of light is never indifferent to injustice.
He knows that all is one and that each individual action affects everyone on
the planet. That is why, when confronted by the suffering of others, he uses his sword
to restore order.
But even though he fights against oppression, at no point does he attempt to
judge the oppressor. Each person will answer for his actions before God and so, once
the warrior has completed his task, he makes no further comment.
A warrior of light is in the world in order to help his fellow man and not in
order to condemn his neighbour


A warrior of light is never in a hurry.
Time works in his favour; he learns to master his impatience and avoids acting
without thinking.
By walking slowly, he becomes aware of the firmness of his step. He knows
that he is taking part in a decisive moment in the history of humanity and that he
needs to change himself before he can transform the world. That is why he remembers
the words of Lanza del Vasto: 'A revolution takes time to settle in.'
A warrior never picks the fruit while it is still green.


The warrior of light knows the importance of intuition.
In the midst of battle, he does not have time to think about the enemy's blows,
and so he uses his instinct and obeys his angel.
In times of peace, he deciphers the signs that God sends him.
People say: 'He's mad.'
Or: 'He lives in a fantasy world.'
Or even: 'How can he possibly believe in such illogical things?'
But the warrior knows that intuition is God's alphabet and he continues
listening to the wind and talking to the stars.


For the warrior there is no such thing as an impossible love.
He is not intimidated by silence, indifference or rejection. He knows that,
behind the mask of ice that people wear, there beats a heart of fire.
This is why the warrior takes more risks than other people. He is constantly
seeking the love of someone, even if that means often having to hear the word 'No',
returning home defeated and feeling rejected in body and soul.
A warrior never gives in to fear when he is searching for what he needs.
Without love, he is nothing.


The warrior of light is a believer.
Because he believes in miracles, miracles begin to happen. Because he is sure
that his thoughts can change his life, his life begins to change. Because he is certain
that he will find love, that love appears.
Now and then, he is disappointed. Sometimes, he gets hurt.
Then he hears people say: 'He's so ingenuous!'
But the warrior knows that it is worth it. For every defeat, he has two victories
in his favour.
All believers know this.


The warrior of light has learned that it is best to follow the light.
He has behaved treacherously, he has lied, he has strayed from the path, he has
courted darkness. And everything was fine, as if nothing had happened.
Then an abyss suddenly opens up; you can take a thousand steps in safety, but
just one step too many can put an end to everything. Then the warrior stops before he
destroys himself.
When he makes that decision, he hears four comments: 'You always do the
wrong thing. You're too old to change. You're no good. You don't deserve it.'
He looks up at the sky. And a voice says: 'My dear, everyone makes mistakes.
You're forgiven, but I cannot force that forgiveness on you. It's your choice.'
The true warrior of light accepts that forgiveness.


The warrior of light is always trying to improve.
Every blow of his sword carries with it centuries of wisdom and meditation.
Every blow needs to have the strength and skill of all the warriors of the past who,
even today, continue to bless the struggle. Each movement during combat honours the
movements that the previous generations tried to transmit through the Tradition.
The warrior develops the beauty of his blows.


A warrior of light is reliable.
He makes a few mistakes, he sometimes thinks he is more important than he
really is, but he does not lie.
When people gather round the fire, he talks to his friends, male and female. He
knows that his words are stored in the memory of the Universe, like a testimony of
what he thinks.
And the warrior asks himself: 'Why do I talk so much, when often I am
incapable of carrying out everything I say?'
His heart replies: 'When you defend your ideas in public, you then have to
make an effort to live accordingly.'
It is because he believes that he is what he says he is that the warrior ends up
becoming precisely that.


The warrior of light is terrified when it comes to making important decisions.
'This is too much for you,' says a friend. 'Go on, be brave,' says another. And
so his doubts grow.
After some days of anxiety, he withdraws to the corner of his tent where he
usually sits to meditate and pray. He sees himself in the future. He sees the people
who will benefit or be harmed by his attitude. He does not want to cause pointless
suffering, but nor does he want to abandon the path.
The warrior allows the decision to reveal itself.
If he has to say 'yes', he will say it bravely. If he has to say 'no', he will say it
without a trace of cowardice.


The warrior of light is now waking from his dream.
He thinks: 'I do not know how to deal with this light that is making me grow.'
The light, however, does not disappear.
The warrior thinks: 'Changes must be made that I do not feel like making.'
The light remains, because 'feel' is a word full of traps.
Then the eyes and heart of the warrior begin to grow accustomed to the light.
It no longer frightens him and he finally accepts his own Legend, even if this means
running risks.
The warrior has been asleep for a long time. It is only natural that he should
wake up very gradually.


The warrior of light has learned that God uses solitude to teach us how to live
with other people.
He uses rage to show us the infinite value of peace. He uses boredom to
underline the importance of adventure and spontaneity.
God uses silence to teach us to use words responsibly. He uses tiredness so
that we can understand the value of waking up. He uses illness to underline the
blessing of good health.
God uses fire to teach us about water. He uses earth so that we can understand
the value of air. He uses death to show us the importance of life.

Thoughts on "Left in the Dark"

Continuing from my last post I felt like putting down some thoughts that have arisen since, I have rarely allowed myself to ramble on my blog, but there is a great passion awake, and it tends to rear its head on this theme in particular.

Even though only half-way through this great book I recognize its importance on many levels, and have to give it praise for something that I have seen missing in science- connecting the dots and having an overview of the whole picture. 

Years ago, as a student of genetics I was taught a view that this paragraph correctly illustrates: 

"DNA is usually thought to be the only conveyance for the passage of information to the next generation and hence to variation,  adaptation and evolution. The mechanism that reads the DNA is assumed to be stable. This is not usually included in the picture as far as inherited change and variation is concerned. The standard evolutionary model is based on the changes that come from glitches in the DNA code. These changes are taken to be accidental (mutation) and usually deleterious, but when they are of benefit, the benefits incurred will create a fitter animal with  enhanced survivability (selection). " 


Wright does a great deal with simply demonstrating that nothing in our body is isolated (nothing indeed at all is isolated but we are so deeply stuck with our paradigm of separation and looking at single separate mechanisms, that now all the different fractions of science are having a measurably hard time to re-unite and move forward which can be done only through recognizing inter-dependence with other fields, this seems such a long way off still). He shows how in fact what we eat can effect our endocrine system, which influences how the DNA is read, which in turn can be an evolutionary mechanism also. This is truly revolutionary.

"The standard model is totally DNA based: inherited traits are passed on via DNA codes but, if a different reading system can be inherited and passed on, there is, in effect, a transmission of a different DNA expression. The DNA and the reading system do not work in isolation. They go together. The reading system is built in the uterus. A change in this reading system will result in different structures, including the structures that read the DNA. If these are stable, the way the DNA is read will be changed permanently. This is a new and radical theory that has huge implications. It is a mechanism for inheritance that does not depend on changes in DNA. It is an inherited reading change.
This theory is not incompatible with the standard DNA model for inheritance. It is merely a variation that, we propose, had a marked affect on the evolution of the ape/hominid lineage. The key point is that the variation is coming from the neural-endocrine system and it is this variation which is inherited. However this does not preclude DNA variation working with, alongside, in response to, or independently of this mechanism."

"Steroid hormones in particular are an integral part of the mechanism that reads the DNA, the blueprint that ultimately dictates the structure  and chemistry of what is built and ultimately
how it works."

There are also brave and visionary people who have been doing studies on how emotions are affecting the coding of our DNA, postulating that the heart has even a bigger electro-magnetic field than the brain and feelings of love can actually change us right down to the cellular level. In short we are truly living in the time when the forgotten wisdoms are coming back to science.

This was always my main issue with some scientific fields, namely the ones looking after the well-being of humanity- they do not look at the whole picture, so how can we trust them to tell us a valid truth about how to look after ourselves? Apart from that- they are also corrupt so the notion of caring is even impossible.
Nutritionists live in a seeming la-la-land which takes into account no scientific evidence at all apparently and as shown in this book- no evolutionary evidence in particular. It is dominated rather by economics.
Doctors live in another la-la-land where they think that what we eat is only remotely connected to our well-being, it boggles the mind that nutritional studies are not really included in studying to be a doctor. But then if it was then would it really benefit as it is another impoverished separatist non-wisdom? And also there is no profit in knowing about food being the only true medicine, it would make the whole enterprise fall.
Psychology is a discipline of blind leading the blind. As Wright points out- a poorly functioning left-brain dominance, riddled with fear, separation, deceit, illusion- is a systematic disease that is not isolated to a percentage of human populace but present in all, including the psychologists we go to for healing. And once again- the pharmaceutical companies are really in charge.

We know almost nothing about human consciousness though it is long shown through physics in particular that consciousness plays a vital part in physical phenomena. 

We know almost nothing. We pin our puny microscopes on particular moments of life happening and say- this is what happens. This is perfectly fine as an evolutionary process of science, but it is certainly not fine if the paradigms and common dogmas from this way of looking at things- dictate what we put into our bodies, how to heal and in general meddle with our bodies- which of course are vehicles and seats of our souls.  

Evidence stares us in our face- we are getting more unhealthy by the decade. 

"Left in the Dark" seems like a pessimistic theory- stating that human beings as a species have been degenerating, and operate from a dominance of a deeply impoverished and hurt left-hemisphere. But it is also completely hopeful. Unless we recognize the problem, there won't be a solution. If we understand the cause and mechanism of the problem-the solutions are many. It is the denial that holds most humans back at this particular point.

As I always try to emphasize- we live in such a crazy, corrupt world where taking charge of our own well-being is really the only option. Questioning the system and self-education, looking at alternatives is really the only option. If we care about our well-being that is. If we are not dulled down in blind faith and trust and mollified by our inherent self-destructiveness. If we care to not only survive, but if we dream to actualize and reach our best possible state. 

Hence I have to always mentally applaud all those who give glimpses of a new possible paradigm and a healing of science. Such a long way off, but all the journeys start from small steps.

An investigation into the evolution of the human brain- Tony Wright

"A new theory of human evolution, proposed by Tony Wright and Graham Gynn in ‘Left in the Dark’, convincingly argues that the human brain owes part of its extraordinary development to the biochemistry of a specialist fruit diet. The hormone-related chemicals in tropical fruit initiated an internal hormone mechanism that increasingly promoted brain growth and elevated neural activity. When humans were forced from their tropical forest ‘Garden of Eden’ some two hundred thousand years ago, this link with biochemically rich fruit was lost.

The internal hormone mechanism that fuelled brain expansion stalled, and the process went into reverse. This caused a breakdown in part of the brain; some functions were lost and our sense of self changed for the worse – a golden age descended in stages to our present materialist, fear-based age of plastic and Prozac. These neurological effects are now being revealed and verified by today’s cutting edge science.

Virtually all cultures preserve myths with an almost identical theme; that from a past golden age humanity has suffered a progressive degeneration. Is this near universal tradition based on real events? The answer appears to be ‘yes’. Recent scientific evidence supports the idea that we suffer from an inherited hormonal condition that has damaged part of our brain. In an unexpected twist, it is the damaged part that is not only driven to play the major role in telling us who we are but also dominates our basic biological functions.
Such a scenario explains some extraordinary anomalies that have emerged from research into how our brains function. It provides an underlying reason for the present crises in health, from the dysfunction of the immune system to the declining age of puberty. It also makes sense of the diverse mystic and religious practices that are said to lead to enlightened states or ‘oneness with God’.

If our common experience of near constant low-level fear and anxiety is actually a consequence of a neurological disorder, there may be a fundamental solution to the problem. We all know that fear, distrust and a lack of connection lead to conflict and ultimately war. Such a solution therefore could be of crucial importance to our global future."

Read more www.leftinthedark.org.uk

Read the book "Left in the Dark" here


I accidentally stumbled on an interview with Tony Wright and was instantly fascinated. Kudos to Wright for explaining thoroughly and extremely well his theories, this with almost inhuman patience with the interviewer, watch and you will see what I mean. The interviewer and the interviewed wonderfully demonstrating the difference between the left brain and right brain action respectively, to my mind at least. I was convinced, and I cannot wait to read the book.