My Health and Ayurveda
INCREASE VITALITY
AND
REVERSE AGING
My Health and Ayurveda
INCREASE VITALITY
AND
REVERSE AGING
WELCOME
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR FREE ACCESS TO INFO ON AYURVEDA - Abhyanga , Ayurvedic Cooking (Chai, Ghee, Lassi, Paneer), Vedic Exercise, Marmas, Pranayama, and the best Ayurvedic Body Type Questionnaire on the planet, AMAZON will let you read a substantial portion of my book The Aging Reversal Course for free.
- click on
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolver
(click 'see details' and then click on 'read sample')
BUT, IF YOU HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN AND STILL DON'T HAVE THE VITALITY YOU THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE, READ ON.
THE FIRST FOCUS TO BOOSTING YOUR VITALITY IS NATURAL BREATHING
If, on the outbreath, the lungs aren't completely emptied, the remaining toxins will be taken back into your body on the next inbreath. (More on this below.)
All the exercise, all the proper diet, all the spiritual practices - though good things to do for yourself - will be diminished if breathing is not natural and toxins are being reintroduced into your body. You will be tired - regardless of how well you eat.
AYURVEDA
The Sanskrit word Ayur means Life, and Ved means 'understanding.'
Ayurveda is the instruction manual on how to have more vitality - and part of these instructions teach how to breath naturally.
THE APPROACH TO AYURVEDA ON THIS WEBSITE DIFFERS FROM TRADITIONAL AYURVEDA IN TWO VERY IMPORTANT WAYS. THE SECOND WAY IS TO CLEAR THE MERIDIANS AND CONNECTIVE JUNCTIONS
If any of your Connective Junctions are blocked, efforts to increase vitality will be blocked.
For example, Sleep: There are thousands of recommendations to promote better sleep - good ones, both from Ayurveda and elsewhere, but a first approach to better sleep is to deal with the applicable Meridians and Connective Juncions. (Nine Connective Junctions need to be attended to for better sleep.)
Or Constipation, another area where thousands of effective approaches are available, but If the Meridians and/or Connective Junctions are not clear solving this issue is difficult. (There are eight Connective Junctions for this.)
Or Memory Problems is another example. (There are six Connective Junctions to improve memory.)
Clear the corresponding Connective Junctions, and all the other approaches become more effective. (The Meridians Course is not available for everyone, but I will send you free instructions for abyangya massage to get you started gently clearing your physiology.)
BUT, THE MOST IMPORTANT WORK IS TO GET THE BREATHING SORTED
Go to my Amazon page. https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolver
Next to the book on aging, click on 'See all details'.
On the page that opens, click on 'Read sample'.
Take ten minutes and work through Session 1, Effective Breathing.
I teach this Session at the beginning of any course or seminar I teach. Lives are changed in a few minutes.
Don't wait. It is free, and I don't know where you could spend a more profitable ten minutes. Work through Session 1 wether or not you are signing up for Breathworks: Cleaning, Toning and Strengthening the Lungs.
Breathworks is taught over the phone with a one-on-one focus (you will need someone to take notes) and takes about half to three-quarters of an hour. Daily practice takes two minutes.
If questions arise, an email usually clears them up. I like a brief follow-up call three or four months later.
Course Fee is $150.00 C; or $125.00 US
THREE CONCEPTS CENTRAL TO BREATHWORKS
1) Ancient cultures considered breath to be Life. Note the Latin root 'spir' in the word respiration is the same root for the word spirit.
Consider also the notion of Prana from Vedic thought and the concept of Chi from Chinese thinkers. Breath is Life.
2) Diaphragmatic breathing activates the lymphatic system. Note that the lymphatic system does not have a pump to move the toxicity collected. Note that insufficient lymphatic cleaning of the brain contributes to dementia and similar disorders.
3) The body's urge for emptiness is a principle recognized as natural in Ayurveda. (As well, Ayurveda recognizes the body's urge for fullness.) We hear from Ayurveda the recommendation to evacuate the bowel first thing in the morning. Also, a complete evacuation of the bladder is a must. A complete evacuation of the lungs is equally important - the lungs release toxicity. If this toxicity remains in the lower lungs and is not released, what happens to it?
Go to my Amazon page
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolver and work through Session 1, Effective Breathing, found in the book on longevity – the novel is also a great read.
Understanding and putting into practice Session 1 is a prerequisite for Breathworks Level 1.
Email me about setting up a time for Breathworks: Cleaning, Toning, and Strengthening the Lungs.
In the course we cover the three breathing exercises mentioned in the title, plus, choosing another two suitable to your needs: for example one that may help with memory, or one for weight loss, or any of a number of others.
MERIDIANS COURSE
Breathworks is a prerequisite for the Meridian Course. If you wish, once you have completed Breathworks, I will send you free instructions on how to do warm oil massage and how to begin gently clearing the Meridians and Connective Junctions.
BUT FIRST GET THE BREATHING SORTED OUT.
Notice how during anxiety, anger, depression the breathing changes. If the 'debris' that the body is trying to release is not completely exhaled, the next in-breath will deliver the pollution back into the body. Complete evacuation is necessary. This is natural and easy to do.
Diet, hydration, sleep, exercise, lifestyle, paying attention to the circadian rhythms, the Behavioral Rasanayas, and everything else from Ayurveda is important but if breathing is not natural everything else is diminished.
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolver
TELOMERES
National Library of Medicine, Lancet Ontcology, October, 2013.
The very important findings in the Abstract below are attributed to 'lifestyle changes'. I suspect that breathing is largely involved. I suspect that the results would be the same if only breathing was practiced instead of the “comprehensive lifestyle changes” but of course I've nothing against comprehensive lifestyle changes.
ABSTRACT
"Background: Telomere shortness in human beings is a prognostic marker of aging, disease, and premature morbidity. We previously found an association between 3 months of comprehensive lifestyle changes and increased telomerase activity in human immune-system cells. We followed up with participants to investigate long-term effects. ... Our comprehensive lifestyle intervention was associated with increases in relative telomere length after 5 years of follow-up, compared with controls, in this small pilot study. Larger randomized controlled trials are warranted to confirm this finding."
Yes, you can have more vitality, but whatever you decide to do on your journey to greater vitality make sure natural breathing is at the top of your list.
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolver
Best wishes,
Paul Colver
WHY DO WE AGE?
THEORY
Consider the following. The body performs trillions of functions per second. On average, 100,000 cells die and are rebuilt every second. The body is constantly rebuilding itself. The process is automatic. Physiology has a powerful drive to rebuild - day after day; year after year. And because of this constant rebuilding, the body is new every few years. Ayurveda asks: Why then, do we age?
The body doesn't need help with the specifics of rebuilding. What it needs is Life filled oxygen, hydration, nutrition and rest & activity. (And the instruction "manual" of how to rebuild needs to be uncorrupted - and if corrupted re-enlivened.)
TRAUMA
The Buddhist saying, "Life is pain, suffering is optional." holds some truth.
Trauma is a fact of life.
Though our body initially functions much like a symphony, the troubles begin through trauma. (Trauma here means anything that produces toxicity in the body.)
A key understanding from Ayurveda is that a mental, or emotional component of trauma has to have a physical correlate – for example, lactic acid from over-exercising. If trauma occurs there must be a physical component. The problem for most of us is that sometimes/often these physical 'bits' - called 'ama' in Ayurveda - are not gotten rid of. And the further problem is that the body has no storage bin for them. They lodge wherever they can find a place: the joints, as arthritis; the arteries, as plaque; the kidneys, as stones, etc. And they lodge in the cells and even smaller places - in the micro-channels. When this happens – and this often begins at a very young age – they block and distort, and sometimes destroy the body's intelligence of how to rebuild. Trauma is inevitable but the residue - ama - may be released.
Of course, a good night's sleep, or an evening laughing with friends can help the body release these physical 'bits'. And for the fortunate – those with a highly efficient physiology – most of the physical toxicity is easily released. Even though most of us do our best to avoid trauma the 'bits' are inevitable.
What happens as the years pass is that the 'bits' clog up physiology and the building blocks of our physiology become imbalanced - one dosha shows up in excess and crowds out the functioning of the others.
CRAVINGS
In addition, we may traumatize ourselves in responding to the body's cravings.
Why does the body have cravings? Is it the devil? I have written that the body wants to heal – that it wants peak performance – that it wants to be full of vitality – that it wants pleasure. Why does it prompt us – drive us – to eat foods that we know are going to make us feel terrible? Ayurveda sees health as a balance of three basic 'physical' elements - taste (hence the food cravings) is the most effective way to create balance. These building blocks - Vata, Pitta, and Kapha - influence (force) our food choices; and also determine where we choose to live; the work we do; the spouse we 'choose'; even our choice of alcohol. The body – when out of balance – drives (controls) our life choices. In extreme cases this is terrifying to witness. Cravings need to be dealt with in a Life-supporting fashion. The doshas need to be brought into balance.
If one views oneself as trapped in a malevolent universe one may not imagine there to be a way through trauma. If one views oneself as a miracle built to enjoy a beneficent universe - as does Ayurveda - one may find a way to deal with the inevitable traumas of life .
The key is to find a way to release the residue of unavoidable trauma.
Enter Ayurveda.
DOES AYURVEDA HEAL?
Strictly speaking, the body does the healing. We give it what it needs and get out of the way. Ayurveda posits that health results from the doshas being balanced. If an individual is in relatively good health then by incorporating the protocols of Ayurveda into one's life, the doshas become more and more balanced: cravings are lessened; the body's intelligence is enlivened; the body begins to rebuild more accurately, and one looks, feels and acts younger almost immediately.
On another level of health - if a person has a family history of, or initial symptoms of, some malady or another - the balancing may bring good results immediately, or, over time the symptoms may be mitigated and the 'progress' of the malady may be slowed. Ayurveda is a preventative approach. 'Avert the danger before it comes.'
At a more extreme level, if a person is beset with some 'advanced' condition of wellbeing the balancing will free up energy to help 'fight' the disease. While the ayurvedic protocols are useful for everyone – I recommend them no matter the state of health - I don't present them as a magic bullet. Though sometimes amazing things happen.
Rereading the above I see it as an accurate introduction to the practice of Ayurveda. What is needed is a guidebook to introduce the practices of Ayurveda into one's life. I've written that book. To preview The Aging Reversal Course go to https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolver
THE FOLLOWING DESCRIBES HOW I FIRST BEGAN TO INCORPORATE AYURVEDA INTO MY LIFE.
Twenty years ago I was pretty much lifeless. My health was shot. Thirty pounds of much-needed fat was gone. I was burning muscle. I was sure I was going to die.
I recovered.
There was a message in the misery - though it didn't seem so at the time.
Physiology desperately wants to heal. The body is our ally, not our enemy, it wants peak performance, enjoyment, and pleasure – and it needs proper support.
Enter Ayurveda.
In 2010 I published the book The Aging Reversal Course: An Ayurvedic Approach to Wellness and Vitality and wanted every person on the planet to have a copy.
Fast forward to today: I've taught 600 people – face-to-face, old-school seminar, and classroom-type teaching. During the twelve hour course we covered breath-work, spice-waters for hydration, Ayurvedic cooking, herbs and spices for energy and digestion, Ayurvedic body-type, the importance of circadian rhythms for digestion and sleep, and unintentionally, weight management - a year later a former student showed up for a cooking class boasting sixty pounds of weight loss.
Whatever your energy and fitness goals you can quickly move towards them - easily and enjoyably.
But there's more. What I discovered is that every approach towards better energy seems stuck on a single focus. Sometimes the focus is diet and nutrition – nothing wrong with proper diet. Sometimes exercise and performance – nothing wrong with suitable exercise. But the revelation I had is summed up in an Ayurvedic saying:
“Everything is connected to everything.”
What I 'discovered' is that without natural breathing all else suffers. Without proper, effortless hydration all else suffers. If digestion suffers, all else suffers. If sleep suffers, all else suffers. Everything is connected.
If you have one area of your life giving you trouble - you are trying for weight loss, fitness, or whatever -a shortfall in that one area is likely holding you back in all areas of life
BREATHWORKS
I teach Breathworks: Cleaning, Toning, and Strengthening the Lungs.
The prerequisite for this course is to have read Session 1 in The Aging Reversal Course and incorporated the protocols of Ayurveda into one's life. Given what I said above about breathing, hydration, assimilation, and sleep being dependent on each other I'm sure this prerequisite makes sense.
Breathworks is taught over the phone in a one-on-one setting and takes about a half hour. I like to receive a follow-up call three months later. If some questions arise an email usually clears them up.
Breathing naturally is good for the body.
You will be more alert.
If you are going into a tense meeting then practice Breathworks while walking down the hall and enter the room aglow and with an alert mind.
If you are in a rage, or beset with anxiety, practice Breathworks for a minute and notice the change.
These exercises have their beginnings in Ayurveda. Recommended daily practice time is 2 minutes – 3 or 4 minutes is okay.
There is no sense toning and strengthening if the lungs are not clean.
Three Concepts Central to Breathworks
1) Ancient cultures considered breath to be Life. Note the Latin root 'spir': is the same root for the word spirit, as well as the word respiration.
Consider also the notion of Prana, and the concept of Chi from Chinese thinkers.
2) Diaphragmatic breathing activates the lymphatic system. Note that the lymphatic system does not have a pump to move the fluid and the toxicity collected. Note that insufficient lymphatic cleaning of the brain contributes to dementia and similar disorders.
3) The body's urge for emptiness is a principle recognized as natural in Ayurveda. (As well, Ayurveda recognizes the body's urge for fullness.) We hear from Ayurveda the recommendation to evacuate the bowel first thing in the morning. Also, a complete evacuation of the bladder is a must. A complete evacuation of the lungs is equally important - the lungs release toxicity. If this toxicity remains in the lower lungs and is not released what happens to it?
Natural Breathing enlivens. It is very clear that if breathing is not at its optimum the other areas of Life are diminished.
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolver
Best wishes,
Paul Colver
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