Successful Living Yoga with Norman Popovsky » Diet

Chia Seeds Health Benefits

Norm — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 01:31:30 +0000

The following is an excerpt from my wife’s article

Chia Seeds: Aztec Miracle, Modern Superfood

Victoria Challancin

flavorsofthesun.blogspot.com

Health Benefits of Chia Seeds

There has been a modern revival of chia seeds, which are currently being touted as a modern “superfood.” With good reason. Check out the following list to see why there has been a resurgence of interest in this fascinating Aztec crop, truly a miracle food.

Why Eat Chia Seeds?

For Nutrition: a complete source of dietary protein; very high in soluble fiber; contain high amounts of Omega 3 and 6 oils; have antioxidant properties
To Provide Energy (provide the raw materials for building flexible cell membranes to let in oxygen and nutrients and provide an easy outlet for CO2 and other cellular wastes)
To Boost Strength
To Bolster Endurance
To Stabilize Blood Sugar (by slowing down both the release of carbohydrates for digestion and the conversion of carbohydrates into sugar for energy, thus preventing suden spikes in blod sugar)
To Aid Intestinal Regularity (via the soluble fiber)
To Reduce Cravings (and Induce Weight Loss)
To Provide Easily Absorbed Dietary Fiber (this also lowers cholesterol levels and allows for the slow release of carbohydrates that produce long-term sustained energy)
To Improve Cardiovascular Health (due to the high levels of heart-healthy Essential Fatty Acids)

Also, Chia Seeds:

Contain Vitamins and Minerals: large amounts of B vitamins, calcium, zinc, iron, copper, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and boron (Chia seeds are known to be nutrient-dense)
Are Digestible Without Grinding (and are quickly absorbed)
Have Long Shelf Life
Are Convenient to Use
Are Gluten-Free
Have Low Sodium Content
Help Retain Electrolytes (especially during physical exertion or bouts of diarrhea)

Click this link for the rest of the Chia Seeds article. You will also find more recipes and food articles as well as great photographs and travel stories.

How Mark Healed His Knee Pain

Guest — Sat, 07 May 2011 21:00:24 +0000

Guest writer Mark Du Bois practices Kriya Yoga and is a member of Paramahansa Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship.

Norm,

I just read the article and comments regarding Danielle’s knee problems. It’s nice to hear of others successes using the techniques you provide to students.

I have been experiencing some knee problems myself recently.

I was an athlete in school and a golf professional during the late 60′s to the early 70′s, so I used to get plenty of exercise and in general, was in excellent health.

Due to some back problems, I began practicing hatha yoga under your supervision in the mid 80′s.

I attribute my somewhat irregular practice of hatha yoga for continuing good health through the 80′s and 90′s.

I began playing golf again in the early 2000′s and always walked when I played. This was excellent exercise and I supplemented it with the occasional practice of hatha yoga.

In 2005 for financial reasons, I quit playing golf again and for the last few years, I have made a good part of my income from eBay and thus,

I have been spending a lot of hours sitting at the computer… and getting very little exercise.

I am now what some call a “fidgeter”…because the only exercise I seem to get is “fidgeting” while sitting at the computer!

I know this is detrimental to my health and as I get older (I’m now 64) I am beginning to see the results of about five years of sitting all day (and often deep into the night) without much exercise except shuffling to the other side of my office to photograph an item to list on eBay! Not the healthiest lifestyle!

This brings me to the main point of this comment. I have been experiencing similar pain in my knees to what Danielle describes in her comments.

I notice this primarily in my left knee because I seem to have developed the habit of crossing my left ankle over my right ankle while sitting at the computer. This allows my left knee to “dangle” to the left thus putting sideways pressure on the left knee as it sort of twists to the left.

I don’t notice pain until I move my legs (often after a very long period of time) and realize that the movement causes intense pain on both sides of my left knee due to stiffness.

And as a side note, I had rheumatic fever as a child and was diagnosed with “fibromyalgia” in my 40′s by an orthopedic surgeon, so I am not a stranger to inflammation.

Finally, the knee pain became too much for me to ignore ( I have a high tolerance for pain) and I realized that I needed to start getting some exercise, eating healthier and doing some hatha yoga again.

After just a few sessions of hatha, my knee pain went away almost entirely.

…and lately, even when I make the mistake of allowing myself to fall back into the habit of crossing my legs while “computering” my life away, there is no pain!

Then, several weeks ago, out of nowhere, your email came with the knee stretching and strengthening exercises! Since then, I have been doing them sporadically and they have increased my flexibility.

Plus, I no longer wake up with intense pain in my knees at night.

In short, I recommend to anyone with knee problems to try some hatha yoga, especially the forward bending positions which stretch the muscles and ligaments on the sides and back of the legs.

I hope students who read this blog will take every advantage of the very simple techniques you demonstrate on the knee video.

To the novice, they may appear so simple that one might think they couldn’t possibly produce any positive results.

To the contrary, if practiced with concentration they can work wonders! They are truly priceless!

I have been to my share of orthopedic doctors and surgeons in my life and what I have found is that they generally prefer to treat the symptoms with pills and the scalpel.

Occasionally I have found one or two who suggested stretching exercises…and I have even heard them say, “just do it while you’re watching TV”!

But mindlessly stretching while watching TV is one thing, and hatha yoga is yet another, because when practicing hatha yoga one actively uses the mind to concentrate the energy on the particular body part.

With your body calm and your mind calm and concentrated, you send life giving energy to the injured or weak cells. That’s when the real healing and strengthening take place.

The human body is an amazing machine and it can do miraculous things, including healing almost any infirmity.

But it works best when we actively engage our mind and energy into the process.

My sincere hope is that many others in need of healing are directed here. And once here, I hope many open the door to the mind using the keys which you provide to all through this wonderful blogsite.

Those who take advantage of your decades of experience in healthful living through hatha yoga and holistic, natural living will be ever so grateful. I know I am!

Thank you so much, Norm, for all you have done for me and for all you continue to do to help others!

Namasté
Mark Du Bois
Bisbee, Arizona

Peter Berquist on Raw Low-Fat Vegan Diet

YogaNorman — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 22:26:47 +0000

In my most popular article, Reduce & Heal Your Knee Pain, I advise an anti-inflammatory diet as a way to reduce swelling, inflammation and pain. Since many of you have asked for more information on anti-inflammatory diets, I have asked musician Peter Berquist to share his resources and experiences in establishing his raw, low-fat vegan diet for two reasons:

1. Peter has told me how much better feels, how his energy has increased, and how much happier he is with this diet.

2. I am finding more doctors and scientists who recommend a vegan diet for all kinds of conditions as well as a preventative against heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and pain.

Raw, Low-Fat Vegan Diet Resources

Peter Berquist

Norm,

Thanks for the opportunity to share with you a little about our experiments with diet.

In 1989 my wife’s mother passed away from cancer at a relatively young age. Around that time a number of books were appearing (including Dr. Ornish’s) showing the link between diet and cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc.

So mainly for health reasons we adopted a vegan diet in 1990. We started out following Dr. McDougall’s approach, which is similar to what Dr. Ornish recommends. They both emphasize the importance of keeping fat intake low – at or below 10% of daily calories. We still consider this low-fat cooked vegan diet the next best thing to what we are doing now.

We then found Natural Hygiene, read a number of books, and started eating a raw food diet in 1991. However, the information we had at the time was incomplete, there was no Internet, and it didn’t work out. So we went back to a cooked vegan diet.

Subsequent to that we read more books and experimented with other cooked vegan diets, some better than others. In hindsight, none of those other cooked vegan diets are as good as the low-fat approach of Dr. McDougall and Dr. Ornish.

Then in early 2008 we read on the Internet about the popular raw vegan diet, and gave it a try. Without realizing it, we were eating a diet very high in fat – the promoters of this diet counsel against eating fruit, which for a raw-foodist leaves only high-fat dishes that include nut and seed pates, etc., in addition to salad vegetables. Needless to say, this diet was far from ideal, and despite eating exclusively raw food we were having problems.

Then finally, after 18 years of experimenting with various vegan diets, we had a major breakthrough in December 2008, when we found a book called “The 80/10/10 Diet”, by Dr. Doug Graham. Dr. Graham has a Natural Hygiene background, and is in agreement with Dr. Ornish and others who recommend a low-fat diet, the only difference being it is raw rather than cooked.

So we have been eating a low-fat raw vegan diet for the last two years. Dr. Graham’s book is the definitive book on that diet. In fact, in our opinion, it is the single most important book on diet currently available.

In his book, which came out in 2005, Dr. Graham combines the latest scientific evidence with his vast experience in helping others. He has personally been eating this way for about 28 years.

Here is the Amazon page for Dr. Graham’s book:

http://www.amazon.com/80-10-Diet/dp/1893831248

And here is a link to Dr. Graham’s website, which has a lot of excellent articles and other information:

http://foodnsport.com/

As I mentioned last summer, we are ecstatic about this diet – it is far superior to anything else we have tried. And I expect that we will eat this way the rest of our lives.

Just to sum up, our experience and research has shown that the most important thing regarding diet is to minimize fat. So if one is a vegan that leaves two possibilities: a cooked low-fat vegan diet based on grains, starches, vegetables and fruits; or a low-fat raw vegan diet based on fruit and vegetables. Our experience is that the raw version of the low-fat vegan diet is superior.

It’s also important to emphasize that there is a huge difference between the low-fat raw vegan diet and the common high-fat raw diet so widely promoted on the Internet.

One thing about the diet recommended by Dr. Graham is that you can’t make a lot of money off it selling supplements, pills, powders, superfoods, etc. Everything you need is in the produce section of the supermarket.

Finally I’d like to share a few more links with you.

First, here is a link to the beginning (Part 1 of 11) of a talk given by Dr. Graham back in 2000:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m3-8yZQPgw&feature=related

In this lecture, Dr. Graham discusses the science behind the low-fat raw vegan diet, and provides a great deal of information on health and diet in general.

And here is a website by a guy named Andrew Perlot, who has some of the best information (other than Dr. Graham) on the low-fat raw vegan diet : http://www.raw-food-health.net/rawfoodhealth.html

For comparison, here’s Dr. McDougall’s website: http://www.drmcdougall.com/

And here is a section from Dr. McDougall’s site with low-fat cooked vegan recipes:

http://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewforum.phpf=5&sid=19d30b2d7f286d90f041972a30987223

Best wishes for a New Year,

Peter Berquist

Peter Berquist is a bassist who is active in both the classical and jazz scenes in Southeast Georgia and South Carolina. Here is a link for the Hilton Head Symphony, where Peter is principal bass: http://www.hhso.org/

And this page has links to videos of some of his jazz performances: http://www.youtube.com/user/pberq?feature=mhum

Thank you, Peter, & Namaste’,…..Norm

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Please feel free to ask questions and make comments below, which will require you to sign in with your name and email address in order to prevent spam comments. Your email will not be posted on this blog nor will it ever be sold or otherwise distributed without your permission. I dislike spam as much as you do…Norm

Reduce & Heal Your Knee Pain

Norm — Tue, 18 May 2010 19:48:20 +0000

While this article was created in response to a question from writer Rick Skwiot about how yoga might help him heal his painful knee, many of the principles and practices will apply to the healing of other joints and conditions as well.

1 > First: STOP whatever activity is aggravating the joint and causing the pain.

One of the most difficult challenges I face when doing therapy with tennis players to heal a bad back, twisted knee, or tennis elbow is to get the person to stop playing long enough for the painful joint to heal.

If you are young and have not had a painful knee for very long, there is a good chance that you are dealing with a temporary condition, which will heal fairly rapidly, if given a rest from more aggravation along with proper Yoga Therapy.

If you are an older player with a long-term chronic condition, and your doctor has told you that your knee is damaged to the point of no return, there is no cartilage left, and the knee is in bone-on-bone condition, complete cessation of tennis may be necessary to stop an on-going destruction in order to allow the joint to return to a healthy, pain free condition.

If you find a lot of resistance in yourself to stop playing tennis, then you need to ask yourself why you want to continue an activity that is not just creating pain and preventing healing, but which may end in future crippling.

Perhaps it may help you to deal with this better if you treat this as an addiction.

You may find yourself saying, “But exercise is healthy. I need to exercise, don’t? I really enjoy playing tennis.”

How can any exercise be healthy when it is damaging your body?

THINK!

From a yoga perspective Any activity that you continue to do that is damaging to your body or mind can be considered an addiction.

Instead of wondering about other people’s addictions, Yoga Science teaches us to deal with our own.

2 > Elevate the legs up a wall to improve circulation and reduce swelling, inflammation, and pain.

This variation of the Hatha Yoga Shoulderstand Asana (posture) will reduce pain and promote healing. While the Shoulderstand offers more benefits, the ability to hold your legs up a wall much longer than you can or should in the Shoulderstand will somewhat make up for this. The longer you stay in this position and the more frequently you practice the faster the results. You will get many other benefits. Inverted poses like this improve circulation of both blood and lymph, strengthen your immune system, prevent and reverse varicose veins including hemorrhoids, help to reduce enlarged prostate, and much more.

The student I mentioned in an earlier post who ended up with a serious infection as a result of “simple knee surgery” used this practice to reduce swelling in his knee and to get off crutches.

When we started therapy, his swollen knee was huge. I had him spend time at the beginning and at the end of our first session with his legs up the wall. I suggested that he should practice this at home to speed up his healing, since this would help him reduce the swelling in his knee.

He asked, “How long or how often should I do this.”

I said, “The more the better. You can stay in this position for hours without any ill effects.”

The next day he said that his knee felt so much better. When I asked him if he spent time with his legs up a wall, he said he had spent a total of 4 hours with his legs up the wall. Swelling had reduced considerably and pain had diminished.

Surprised, I asked how was able to spend so many hours with his legs up the wall.

He said, “I found that I could put my laptop on my stomach and I got a lot of work done in that position.”

He arrived for the third session without crutches and continued to heal his knee rapidly.

Obviously, this student had a lot of commitment to self-healing. But what important activities in your life don’t require commitment? The same drive that helped this man become a successful businessman, also helped him heal his knee.

3 > Practice Deep Relaxation

Wondering where you will get the time to practice all of these techniques? You can practice Deep Relaxation while you have your legs up the wall.

To the extent that you can relax, you will not feel pain, and healing progresses.

If you have the equipment and know how, you can record a relaxation technique in your own voice to play when you want to practice relaxation. If you do not have the ability to record your own relaxation CD, you might consider getting my Deep Relaxation CD. (Soon available to order online. Currently only from me in San Miguel.)

For those of you who have no knee or leg problems but who want to practice relaxation, you will still receive extra benefit if you practice with your legs elevated up a wall.

4 > Practice visualization and affirmations.

This also can be practiced while your legs are up the wall after you have gotten deeply relaxed.

See how you are saving more time as you do these practices at the same time?

When you are more relaxed, the critical conscious mind is not as active and it is much easier to penetrate the subconscious mind. Then the subconscious mind will come back to influence the conscious mind in a very positive way.

The best times to practice Affirmations and Visualizations are

when you have relaxed yourself,
near the end of a meditation session,
just as you awaken in the morning, and
just before you drift off to sleep at night.

There is an old metaphysical saying,

Quit seeing what you don’t want and start seeing what you do want.

Visualize your knee healthy and perfect.

See the knee joint opening up, the space between the bones increasing.

Visualize yourself pain free and happily walking, dancing, playing.

Recognize a great healing energy within you.

Visualize yourself removing any blocks to that healing energy.

See yourself getting in tune with that energy, cooperating with it, and enjoying the healing.

Practice affirmations like

Day by day, in every way, I getting better and better

I am happy, I am healthy, I am strong

To really understand the Techniques and Power of Affirmations get this Great Healing Book by Paramahansa Yogananda called Scientific Healing Affirmations: Theory and Practice of Concentration. This little booklet is the most complete comment on healing that I know of.

5 > Use your knee joint in ways that increase activity and movement without aggravating the condition.

If walking causes you pain, greatly limit. Be careful not to move suddenly or with a jerk, which will aggravate the knee joint. This is why healing often does not come when indulging in sports or activities which require sudden, twisting, or forceful movements.

Substitute activities which are not weight bearing, and which do not aggravate the joint, like swimming and the Non-Standing Yoga Asanas. There are so many Hatha Yoga Asanas that you could do enough non-weight-bearing-on-the-knee poses to fill several hours of practice.

At the beginning of my EASY YOGA for Home, Office, & Studio DVD, I take you through some very simple, easy-on-the-knees, passive techniques while you are sitting in a chair. These simple exercises are designed to improve range of motion and circulation without stressing your joint or aggravating the condition.

See the free Knee Healing Video post.

Be Creative

Discover movements that will give motion to your knee without causing pain. The more you move your knee joint without pain, the faster the healing.

If you find that putting weight on your knee is not painful, then you may find that you can easily do the Triangle and other Standing Yoga Asanas (postures).

6 > Practice This Technique to Open the Knee Joint

Get down on the floor on hands and knees. If your knee is sensitive to weight in this position, put extra padding under the knee.
Take your hands and body forward so that the back of your knee opens up. Point your toes back.
Place a pillow or rolled towel behind your knee joint. The tighter or more painful your knee feels, the larger the pillow needed.
Sit back on the cushion, which now works as a wedge to open up the knee joint. If your ankles are very tight and uncomfortable, place a pillow under the ankles.
As always, move slowly into position and stop before you feel pain.
Stay in this position as long as it feels good to you.

My HEAL YOUR BACK NOW! DVD will take you to another deeper level of relaxation and teach you how to move to lessen pain and accelerate healing, and how to develop the proper attitude for doing the regular Hatha Yoga Asanas.

7 > Adopt an Anti-inflammatory Diet

I have recommended a healthy, low fat, vegetarian diet in a previous post. This is not a vegan diet because it includes milk, cheese, and eggs as recommended by Paramahansa Yogananda, and other highly advanced yogis. Yogananda also recommends up to one tablespoonful of Olive Oil a day to keep the joints well lubricated.

Since dairy and eggs are contrary to the advice of many popular doctors who say that no animal foods should be consumed, you might want to study this some and then make up your own mind. (See the post, Peter Berquist on Raw, Low-Fat Vegan Diet, on this site.)

In any case the Yoga Diet, like the Anti-inflammatory Diet, is a plant-based diet consisting of mostly fresh, whole, raw fruits and vegetables with the addition of small amounts of nuts, seeds and whole grains.

This means NO refined, processed, packaged, canned, old, chemically preserved, colored, or altered foods.

No alcohol, meat, caffeine, cola/carbonated/soft drinks, drugs, or strongly salted or spiced foods. And

NO OVEREATiNG.

Understand we are not talking about whether or not you are a good or bad person based upon your eating habits. These are just guidelines to help you reduce inflammation and improve your health.

Now there is evidence from research at Ohio State University in an article published in Science Daily, “Yoga Reduces Cytokine Levels Known to Promote Inflammation, Study Shows”, that Yoga reduces inflammation.

8 > Use Fasting and Detox to Reduce Pain and Increase Flexibility

I have explained the value of Fasting and Detox in my article Improving Your Eliminations Will Improve Your Nutrition.

If this interests you, you might also like to try a yogic cleansing technique given in my article How Lemons and Limes Keep Your Healthy

You can fast on water or fruit juice. You can also take one fruit, such as watermelon, and just eat that for one day. Watermelon will flush the kidneys and remove toxins.

I have always enjoyed how much more flexibility I had and how much easier the Hatha Yoga Asanas were for me when I have been on a fast.

Remember, the Yoga Asanas work scientifically to remove toxins by compression, extension, and inversion.

9 > Reduce Excess Weight

Obviously, if you put excess weight on a sore joint, it will feel worse, and if you reduce the weight on a painful joint, it should feel better. In fact, this is so obvious that you might wonder why it was not listed first.

Or you might be saying to me right now, “I wish it was that easy. Of all the advice you have just given this would probably be the most difficult for me to do. I have been trying to get my weight down for several years now with no success. Now that I have a bad knee and can’t even walk, much less run, how am I going to lose weight?’

Here is the good news:

If you do everything else that is listed above, you don’t have to worry about how to lose weight, your weight will normalize naturally.

10 > Keep Connected to This Website

You can use this site as a resource to help you to heal yourself.

Many of the points that you will be working with to heal your knee will be further explained in other articles. Even the healing of a condition that you are not dealing with can be beneficial because there are principles that apply to all healing.

In the stories of others who have healed themselves you will find inspiration and guidance for your own healing.

Then, hopefully, one day you will share the story of your own healing to help others to heal themselves.

Namaste’

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Fibromyalgia Healed

YogaNorman — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:42:27 +0000

How Carol Healed Herself of a 20 Year Affliction with Fibromyalgia

April 1995: Carol, a visitor to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, from New York, came to see me and asked if I thought that yoga would help her. She said that she had been suffering from Fibromyalgia and Insomnia for twenty years. She said that she was in constant pain and was unable to do even simple activities.

“Yes, practicing hatha yoga will help you,” I told her, “but you need to come to class every day.”

“I can’t come every day,” she said. “That would be too much activity.”

“If you want to heal yourself, you need to be here five days a week. Surely you can do that.”

‘But you don’t understand!” Her eyes teared. “If I take the class today, it will be a week before I have enough energy to take another class.”

“No, you don’t understand,” I said firmly. “My guru, Paramahansa Yogananda, said that there is enough energy in each person to last several thousand years. The only way that you can not have energy is by giving up. We are not going to try to get you more energy. We are just going to remove the blocks to the energy that is already within you.”

Friday, April 7, 1995, 7:45am: Carol started hatha yoga classes five mornings a week. I knew that she was in a lot of pain and that everything was very difficult for her. I told her that even if she did just the breathing and relaxation, she would be making progress.

One day I found her sitting cross legged on the floor crying. “What’s the matter? Did you hurt yourself?”

“No, nothing happened,” she said. “It hurts just to sit here?”

“Hang in there. Just show up every day and do what you want of the class. Give it time. You’ll see.” I never pushed Carol to do the postures. The only thing I pushed her to do was to attend classes. I knew that the yoga class environment alone would help her, and I was determined not to lose her. After twenty years going downhill in pain, this might be her last chance.

Little by little Carol was loosening up, relaxing better, and at times feeling less pain. And as she said, “Maybe I’m sleeping a little better and walking a little easier.”

I had encouraged Carol to walk to class and back. But when I suggested that she now attend two yoga classes a day, she lost it. “Now I know that you are nuts! How in the world am I going to do that? I’ve just barely been able to make it to every morning class. What happens if I am too weak to walk back to my place?”

“You can take a cab. Here in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a cab is only a dollar.”

Do the Yoga and You Won’t Be Tired

I explained to Carol that practicing Hatha Yoga correctly means feeling energized not fatigued. Unlike getting in shape to play football, Yoga is more like learning to type or play a musical instrument: The more frequently you practice, the sooner you develop the skill. The more frequently she practiced, the more energy she would have.

“But what if I am too tired to do the Yoga?” she said.

I answered, “Do the Yoga and you won’t be tired.”

Carol had been taking an afternoon art class and had used that as an excuse for not coming to the afternoon class as well as the morning one. Now the art school had a two week spring break.

April 18, 1995: Carol finally gave in and attended the 5 pm class the second week of the spring break. And guess what? She had a big advancement in her progress.

The Only Limitations We Have Are The Ones We Put on Ourselves

While I am always looking for opportunities to introduce students to the mental and spiritual aspects of Yoga, I felt that this would be especially helpful to Carol because of the enormous challenge she faced in her twenty year losing battle with the physical pain and insomnia of Fibromyalgia.

I was very happy to find Carol receptive to the spiritual teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda. I gave her some things by him to read and she began attending our meditation meetings and readings.

One day when Carol asked, “What if I just don’t have what it takes to conquer this Fibromyalgia illness?”

I said to her, “I want you to think about this, to really think about it. Turn it over in your mind. Try not to be critical or argue against it, but just keep hearing it and repeating it. Paramahansa Yogananda says that the only limitations we have are what we put on ourselves. The Spirit of God is within each one of us. So you, Carol, the only limitations that you have are the ones that you choose to have. You can just as well choose not to have any.”

I suggested that she read Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi, and if she liked that she should consider signing up for the home study lessons from Paramahansa Yogananda’s organization, Self-Realization Fellowship.

May 15: Carol had her last class. I told her that she now had some indication of the direction she needed to go in. She had some momentum but the value of that would really be realized by her regular, daily and continued practice of yoga. Carol thanked me, bought one of my yoga tapes and left for her home in New York. I felt that she had gotten a sense of what needed to be done and would do it.

Some time passed and I thought of how wonderful it would be if Carol could conquer her problem.

Fall 1995: I received the following letter from Carol:

Dear Norman__

I think of SM [San Miguel] often & of my experiences there & connecting again, but with a commitment this time, to yoga which has become a part of my daily life. Have gained considerably in strength, endurance & flexibility. Able to do many things like gardening for much longer periods. Pain is no longer part of my day. What a difference! Sometimes I’m doing Yoga the same time as your class – have joined a class here. Keeps me going…

Am reading Auto of a Yogi [Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda] & and have started the teachings [Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons]. Fascinating life he led. Also reading the life of Alesandra David-Neel, a Frenchwoman, who, in the 20′s, was the first European woman to enter LLasa in Tibet. What a journey she was on! She entered Llasa as a beggar. Studied with many lamas.

I’ve not made any definite plans to return to SM [San Miguel] – no opportunities yet. But I know I’ll return in the winter, if not before.

Hope all is well with you & your family – I miss the group [Yogananda Meditation Group] on Sundays. I think of you all. Fondly, Carol

Of course, this was wonderful news. “Pain is no longer part of my day.” Accomplished in just about six months. If people only realized! “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” How much unnecessary suffering. But Carol did it. And for me, another affirmation of the power of Yoga and of the tremendous resources within each human being.

Paramahansa Yogananda tells us. But are we listening? Listen. Listen.

But this is not the end of the story.

January 29, 1996, Monday, 7:45 am. Carol Johnstone returned San Miguel and to the yoga class for five weeks.

As Carol stated in her letter she was in much better health and fitness.

Carol was smiling and giggling to herself a lot. I was puzzled. Was I doing something stupid looking? “Carol what’s so funny?”

“Oh, I am just happy. I am not saying that I can do everything easily now, but I remember what it was like when I first came to your class last year and how hard and painful it was just to be here. It is so much easier now.”

“Good.” Carol just kept getting better and better in the class and out of the class.

“Carol, wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing to write up your experiences so that they can be used to inspire and guide others. What do you say?”

“Of course, I will. Great idea.”

February 18, 1996: Carol gave me the following account of her pain, suffering, and healing.

Carol Johnstone’s Recovery from Fibromyalgia

About 20 years ago, I started having difficulties – pain in the knee. burning in the balls of my feet, feet hurt while walking, very achy back and legs, tail bone hurt so much, I had to use a doughnut to sit on for years ( I took it everywhere with me.) I had x-rays of my knee and my tail bone – nothing showed up. After playing tennis, I got a severe case of tennis elbow.

Went to many doctors and later a chiropractor. No one was able to diagnose me or help me. I fatigued very easily and suffered from insomnia. My body hurt, from my neck down through my feet. I was always in pain. I could not walk more than a couple of blocks without stopping and resting. I could no longer garden, wash windows, vacuum, etc. I was always in pain.

After about 10 years at the advice of a friend I finally went to a rheumatologist and was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, an arthritic disease affecting the muscles and connecting tissues.

Found out there is no cure. Symptoms are treated with drugs. Took muscular pain reliever and a sedative to sleep.

Heard about a wellness clinic that knew about Fibromyalgia. Went to it and learned about the disease. Treated with relaxation techniques. They were effective but very short-lived.

The years went by. I finally weaned myself from the drugs because of the side effects and hoped I would feel better (the drugs did take the edge off the symptoms). I ended up depressed and very tired.

Then I came to Mexico last year. I was beginning to feel a bit freer from pain. My muscular system was in poor shape as pain stopped me from exercising – I barely walked, never without pain. I decided that I must try to help myself before I got older as I was worried that my muscles would further deteriorate. Everything I did that was the least bit different would make that muscle hurt more.

I started taking Norman’s yoga class every day thinking that yoga would be the least stress on my muscular system. At the beginning I was very frustrated because my body just would not perform and I could not do any pose (even relaxation) without pain. I persevered. There were times when I was in tears and almost ran out of the room from frustration and pain. I kept up one hour per day for five weeks until I left San Miguel. I had bought Norman’s tape for beginners and continued yoga on my own when I returned home. It paid off.

After nearly a year, I am able to do the poses, not effortless, but pain free. But the quality of my life is amazing. My muscles are toned and my strength and agility have greatly improved – I am able to walk, sometimes a dozen miles a day without discomfort or pain. I can do normal housework, garden for a few hours at a time, even played tennis a bit, pain free. My friends tell me I look and act younger. I continue to attribute the practice of yoga to my good health and will continue on this path, enabling me to better prepare for meditation which I think is the key to the best of health, both physical and mental.

Signed: Carol Johnstone 2.18.96

P. S. I could not hold any kind of job; it was impossible. I feel it is important that yoga become part of a person’s daily life to gain the most benefit.

Near the end of her stay, Carol told me how much the Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons had meant to her. “You know my confidence has soared. I really feel like I understand what you told me about Yogananda saying that the only limitations we have are those we put on ourselves. I feel like I can do anything I want now.”

“So what is it you want?”

“I want to keep getting healthier. I want to hike and travel all over. I want to study a lot more about yoga, about Yogananda’s teachings, about the spiritual part of yoga, the most important part of yoga, and I want to keep practicing hatha yoga. And meditation. I know meditation is the most important practice. Yogananda made that so clear.”

March 1, 1996, Friday: By the end of her last class on this trip, Carol was full of energy and happiness. She thanked me and then hugged me and said, “I have a gift for you. My husband came in a few days ago to go back home together. The last two days my husband and I hiked the canyon from the bottom all the way to the top passed the dam and reservoir.”

What a gift! “Carol, you know, don’t you, that most people even with no medical problems can’t, or won’t, hike that canyon.”

She smiled. “I know. I have no limitations.”

But Wait! This is still not the end of the story. Oh, I know, if I were writing fiction, it had better be with this great ending line. But this is nonfiction meant to educate and inspire so we continue.

May 29, 1996: I received a permission letter from Carol stating, “I give my permission to Norman Popovsky to use Whatever information relating to my health and recovery, written and verbal, in any way he chooses.” Then the following note was attached:

Norman

Sorry I took so long on this _ life is busy for me these days. L__ R__ & I plan to meet in Germany on Saturday morning, both of us on stand-bys, her from LA, me from NYC. Hope we meet without a hitch. I’m weaving chenille scarves for travel money. I’m still doing yoga – never could have managed the loom without it.

Hope all is well with you & your family in SMA. I plan to return in January.

Fondly,

Carol

February 1997: Carol returned to San Miguel de Allende. Right before she returned to class, I ran into her and her husband in Juarez Park as they had just returned from a hike.

Her husband said to me, “You know according to the doctors by now Carol was supposed to be in a wheelchair drinking out of a straw.” Obviously, he was happy with her recovery. Then the smile left his face. “I can’t even keep up with her any more.” He wiped the sweat and dust from his forehead. “Carol, tell Norman what you did with our daughter.”

Carol smiled. “I hiked seven miles with her at eleven thousand feet elevation.”

He added, “Completely blew our daughter away.”

Carol joined the class for the last three weeks of February stronger than ever and Pain Free.

I know that very few of you are in as bad of condition as Carol was. If she could heal herself, certainly you should be able to.

Don’t you think so?

How to Overcome Fatigue

Norm — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:11:39 +0000

Q. What can I do about fatigue? It seems that no matter how little I exert myself, nor how much more I rest, I still feel tired. My doctor says I have no medical problems.

It sounds like you might be going in the wrong direction: resting too much and exerting yourself too little.

One of the Biggest Causes of Fatigue Is Lack of Circulation Due to Too Little Activity.

I know that there is a very common tendency to try to rest more when you don’t feel like you have a lot of energy. But if your tiredness is due to poor circulation, you can actually make yourself feel more tired by resting. These conditions can be compounded in modern living where long sedentary periods seated before a TV or computer, or in an automobile during morning and afternoon work commutes, tend to inhibit the natural tendencies of regular physical activity.

Assuming that your doctor is right and that you have no medical problem that is causing your tiredness, consider these other possibilities.

How Overeating Saps Your Energy

Sometimes in an effort to get more energy from food, you may unwittingly develop the habit of overeating. Remember, even healthy food becomes a dross to the body when taken to excess. Overeating puts a tremendous load on the digestive system and causes an imbalance of energy since so much energy is diverted to the digestive organs. This can create such a drain on the other parts of the body that you can feel very tired as your body attempts to deal with the overload of food.

Notice how you feel groggy after a big meal?

Worse yet is the coronary attack that follows when the energy needed for the heart is pulled away to deal with a heavy, hard-to-digest meal.

Too Much Rest Will Slow You Down

Yoga Science teaches that too much sleep makes you lethargic. One reason for this is that lying motionless for a long time causes a decrease in the elimination of waste material due to lessened circulation. That is a reason why the longer you sleep, or lie around, the less flexible you are upon awakening.

Oxygen intake is cut down due to slow, shallow breathing.

Get Your Energy Flowing

To improve this situation, the first thing that most Yogis do in the morning, besides meditating, are techniques to get rid of waste material and to increase circulation, oxygen, and flexibility. In other words, they prepare their bodies to behave like open conduits for the free, unobstructed flow of energy.

Improve Your Flexibility

If you lack flexibility, it is difficult for energy to flow easily. Because stiffness limits the range of motion of your body, circulation decreases. which increases your stiffness, which further slows your circulation, and on and on in vicious downward cycle. As your circulation slows so does the ability of your body to eliminate toxins, which in turn slows the free flow of nutrients to the cells. When toxins are not completely eliminated, deposits form in your joints, organs, glands, and blood vessels, and your flexibility diminishes.

How Hatha Yoga Asanas Will Help You

To combat this problem the yogis discovered Hatha Yoga, a unique system of Asanas (Postures or Poses) designed to improve circulation, energy flow, flexibility, and eliminations.

What makes Hatha Yoga such an efficient system is that all these benefits come about without the production of a large amount of waste byproduct, as happens in most other forms of exercise. If this waste material is not eliminated, your muscles will feel sore later.

When you do exercises of such a nature or in such a way that your muscles ache the next day, you will find it difficult to improve flexibility. In fact, many runners find that the more they run, the stiffer they become.

On the other hand, when you practice Hatha Yoga correctly, you will find a steady improvement in flexibility, eliminations, circulation, energy, and strength, with a minimum amount of effort, regardless of your age or present condition.

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I very much would like to hear from those of you whose success with Yoga might inspire others.

Why You Don’t Want a Fat Free Diet

Norm — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:50:49 +0000

Q. I am planning a fat free diet in order get my weight down. How can I be sure that my diet is totally fat free?

First of all, why do you want such an extreme diet? Unless you are intending to be on this diet just a short time, you run the risk of developing nutritional deficiencies.

A healthy diet includes fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. Fats are necessary for their lubricating effects upon the cells, joints and limbs to prevent wear and uncomfortable friction. Fats are a source of energy. And a certain amount of fat in the body is necessary to protect the cells.

Good Health Requires Balanced Living

Whenever you attempt to eliminate any element that is a natural part of a food, you run the risk of upsetting both the balance of the food and of your own system. Foods in their natural, whole, fresh, clean, unadulterated state tend to include all of the elements necessary for their proper metabolism in your body.

If you want to eliminate fats from your diet because you feel that your diet has been too high in fats. or because you are overweight, or because you have deposits in your arteries, use good nutritional sense.

Beware of simplistic solutions that advocate unnatural substitutes. In our rush to find easy answers, we support large industries that supply us with non-dairy creamers, non-cream whipped toppings, and non-butter butter substitutes. A little common sense will tell you that these are not solutions.

For instance, you may have fatty deposits in your arteries but this may not be because you are eating too much natural fat. It may be the result of

Inadequate circulation because you are not exercising enough

Bad digestion caused by overeating

Autotoximia caused by poor eliminations

Nonfood substances and/or foods processed in such a way that your body cannot properly assimilate them

Stress

Common sense should tell you that if you do have atherosclerosis for any of the above reasons, that the indiscriminate use of fake cream, butter, cheese, and milk substitutes will not solve your problem. Most of these products have replaced the natural food elements with chemicals to color, flavor, preserve, and shape the products. If your body has had a hard time handling the fat in milk, the first food humans are able to assimilate, imagine what it does with the aluminum and whiteners found in some nondairy creamers, or with the hydrogenated oils and artificial butter flavors and colors found in some margarines.

Eliminate These Fats First

If you want to reduce your fat intake and improve your health, begin by cutting down on unnatural fats such as foods fried at such high temperatures that the fats are no longer easily assimilated by the body. Eliminate marbled beef that gives juicy, tender, easy eating steaks but comes from animals that are overfed and not allowed to exercise. Don’t eat any food made with oils that normally are liquid at room temperature that have been chemically treated or hydrogenated to change the oil into solid margarine that the body cannot digest and assimilate, and which clog up the cells and blood vessels.

Your best insurance for a healthy body is still a balanced program of yoga asanas (postures) with relaxation, breathing and meditation, a clean diet high in fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and a cheerful attitude.

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I very much would like to hear from those of you whose success with Yoga might inspire others.

How Lemons and Limes Keep You Healthy

Norm — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:36:26 +0000

Q. In Mexico I see widespread use of limes. Do limes have any special value?

Yes. Limes, and this includes lemons, are recommended by Yoga Science because they are good disinfectants. The juice kills many germs in the stomach and intestinal tract. This is especially important to help combat intestinal amoebas in warm climates like Mexico’s.

The use of lemon has been recommended to travelers by a doctor with the Organization of American States to prevent amoebic problems in Mexico.

Many yogis start the day drinking the juice of one lemon diluted in a glass of warm water because of its beneficial effect upon the liver, spleen, intestines, kidneys, bladder, and urinary tract. Lemon juice taken daily on an empty stomach will disinfect the physical organs. The acid in the lemon destroys undesirable germs that get into the body.

Another value of this practice is to aid in the easy evacuation of the bowels. If you are bothered by constipation try the following:

Simple, Easy-to-Do, Yogic Technique for Easier Bowel and Bladder Evacuations

1. Upon arising in the morning, drink a warm glass of water to which has been added the juice of one lemon or lime. This will stimulate the peristaltic action of the colon.

2. To further aid in this process, bend over, put your hands on your thighs or on a table, bend your knees slightly, and do abdominal movements.

3. With your spine straight but inclined and most of your torso weight on your hands, exhale and draw your stomach and abdomen in and up. This motion is assisted by the partial vacuum created by the lungs being empty and by the weight upon the hands.

4. Push the abdomen and stomach out slowly and pull in again and then out.

5. Take a breath and repeat.

All the movement is done with the breath out. As you get better at this, you may increase the number of movements you can do comfortably without taking another breath. Do Not Strain at any time.

If you suffer from chronic constipation, you may practice this stomach exercise at other times of the day. Never practice on a full stomach. A good time is before meals, when the stomach is empty. Women should not practice this technique when pregnant or during the menstrual period.

Aids in Indigestion and Stomach Problems

The technique may help you to cure indigestion and stomach troubles of a general nature.

Even if you have none of the above problems, you still may want to practice this technique in order to better cleanse and disinfect your body. Try it. After a time you may find it very pleasant as your body feels lighter, cleaner, and more energetic.

When poisons are eliminated from the body, energy flows easier and you feel better.

Your Stomach Will Love Papaya

Papaya, sometimes called a miracle food by a lot of “health nuts,” can help you with almost any kind of stomach and digestive problems and is considered a general all around tonic.

You can find the large, inexpensive variety of papaya everywhere in Mexico. Aside from the border states, which often have the large Mexican papaya, you will find the smaller variety papaya throughout the USA. Before its popularity in the USA, the papaya was used as a meat tenderizer because of the papaya enzymes’ ability to break down meat tissue. Eaten with the meal, papaya can be a digestive aid. Yoga Science as well as most healing therapies recommend it for stomach disorders.

Fasting with only papaya fruit and/or juice usually brings a nice glow to the skin.

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I very much would like to hear from those of you whose success with Yoga might inspire others.

Breaking the Food-as-a-Drug Habit

Norm — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:37:18 +0000

Q. You recommend fasting as a way to rest the digestive system, eliminate toxins, and improve health. If I don’t eat at night, I have trouble sleeping. Wouldn’t it be wrong for me to fast?

That depends on how you prepare yourself. Can you mentally accept the idea that you don’t need three or four meals every day to be healthy? If you can believe that fasting will improve your health, then retrain yourself to gradually break your dependence upon food to help you sleep.

Because the digeestive system slows down considerably when you sleep, food that is eaten before bedtime tends to ferment instead of digest. This can result in catarrh of the alimentary canal.

Furthermore, because energy is pulled from the brain to digest the food, your sleep might become restless. You may fail to experience truly peaceful sleep, even though you may not be aware of or remember this on the conscious level.

How You Can Break the Habit of Drugging Yourself with Food

You can break this habit the same way you would break a dependency on sleeping pills. Cut down on the amount until you can do without it. One of the uses of food that few people are aware of is food’s use as a drug.

What else can food be but a drug when it is used beyond its need to nourish the body?

Even the best food becomes a poison to the body, when it is taken to excess.

While you may easily accept the psychologists’ idea that many overweight people drug themselves with excess food in order to compensate for feelings of inferiority, can you also realize that when you are used to eating an excess that stretches and overloads your stomach to bring on drowsiness so that you slip into an afternoon siesta, that you are doing the same thing: Drugging Yourself?

Use Deep Breathing to Help You Sleep Better

If you have trouble relaxing or falling asleep, you would be far better off doing some slow, deep breathing exercises to relax yourself, than overloading your stomach to bring on drowsiness. In addition to relaxing you, the slow, deep breathing exercises will cleanse the lungs, bloodstream, and cells of carbon dioxide, make more room for oxygen in the bloodstream and cells, and recharge the cells with energy. In short, instead of drugging yourself, you will be rejuvenating yourself.

Q. You have talked about diet, fasting, and exercise for bettering your health. While I can understand that all of these are important, I feel that it would be too complicated for me to make all of these changes at once. If I were to start with just one thing, what would you recommend as the most important that I work on first?

ATTITUDE. If you will concentrate upon improving your attitude, than all else will follow. Conversely, if your attitude is not good, then there is little chance of anything else succeeding for any length of time.

Let go of the idea that you can’t help what you are or how you think. At any time you always have a choice.

Choose to think those thoughts and entertain those ideas that will take you to better health and happiness.

Choose to think positive, constructive thoughts that will make a better future for yourself and for all concerned.

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I very much would like to hear from those of you whose success with Yoga might inspire others.

Improving Your Eliminations Will Improve Your Nutrition

Norm — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 22:47:46 +0000

Q. What do I need to know about eating fruit? When tangerines are in season, I might eat three or four at one time. Is there anything wrong with this?

Not at all. The only way there is anything wrong with you eating several tangerines at one time is if the tangerines don’t agree with you, or if you are overeating. But this would be true of any food.

Fasting on Fruit

As a matter of fact, Yoga Science, as well as many natural healing therapies, recommend fasting with a particular fruit when it is in season. If you will take nothing but one fruit and/or its juice for several days, you will give your digestive system a rest, and in the process free up more energy with which to clean out toxins, and to heal.

If you are unaccustomed to fasting and consider a whole day on one fruit or juice too severe, you can try just one meal. Or you can try a fruit salad. And if even that is too radical for you, just make fruit a major portion of one meal.

An all fruit meal now and then will give your digestive system a rest. When your digestive system is relieved of its burden of heavy meals, your body begins an internal house-cleaning, eliminating many toxins.

The Part Played by Elimination in Improving Nutrition

Without proper elimination, it is difficult for the body to digest and assimilate the nutrients from the food that you eat. In order for the body to properly process food and utilize the nutrients, it must be free of waste material. When we talk about improving this process, we mean increasing the efficiency.

Think of a fireplace. The purpose of a fireplace is to heat a room. One of the main ingredients in this process is a suitable combustible material. But this is only one. If the chimney is clogged or blocked, for instance, not only will you get heat in the room, but also a lot of smoke and soot, as well as poisonous carbon monoxide gas. If the chimney is open but there is no good supply of oxygen to help in the burning, you will get smoke, soot, carbon monoxide as well as some of the fire coming into the room. If you don’t clean the ashes out regularly, you will have a hard time getting a good, efficiently burning fire.

The same holds true in the nutritional process. It is not enough that you eat good food. The food must be digested and the nutrients carried to where needed. If your arteries are clogged, if your blood circulation is sluggish, if your intestines, kidneys, and liver are loaded with impurities, the whole process begins to bog down and eventually fail.

You can greatly improve your health and well-being by seeing to it that you do not overeat, that your diet is high is “clean” foods, and by fasting regularly. Don’t, however, look at this as deprivation. Think of the benefits. You will find yourself feeling lighter, healthier, more energetic, and younger.

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I very much would like to hear from those of you whose success with Yoga might inspire others.