There has been an odd myth in modern western culture that said that we cannot take care of certain aspects of our own health through our lifestyle.
Fortunately, that’s changing, and it has been for a while.
We know that by acting healthy, we can maintain good health into old age. (Staying physically and mentally active, and perhaps even doing forms of yoga, meditation and inquiry.)
We know that by exercising our eyes, we can maintain good eye health or sometimes even reverse eye problems. (I used glasses from my teens. Started eye exercises in my mid-twenties. After a few weeks went back to the eye doctor who said my vision was good and I was in no need to glasses. And when I asked, she said that poor vision can’t be reversed….! My vision went from mildly near sighted – 0.75 to normal.) See f.ex. Natural Vision Improvement by Janet Goodrich.
We know that the mind can be trained. We can train a more stable attention. We can find kindness and love towards ourselves and others. We can even recognize our “true nature” (the layers of it). And all of this can be invited in and made into new habits. See f.ex. shamata (stable attention), ho’oponopono, loving kindness/metta, tonglen, holding satsang with parts of ourselves (kindness, love), and forms of insight meditation and inquiry (recognizing the dynamics of the mind and our human nature, and our true nature).
We know that by making a few relatively simple changes, we can maintain health free from (most or all) infections diseases, and many other diseases. See f.ex. K.P. Khalsa (my herbalist).
We know that by making similar simple changes, we can prevent and even reverse tooth and gum problems. See f.ex. How I healed my Teeth Eating Sugar by Joey Lott. (I am just starting this now.)
We know that tension and trauma can be released in a simple and natural way. (Neurogenic tremors, Tension & Trauma Release Exercises.)
We know that the source of stress and distress, and even trauma, can be recognized and even undone through inquiry. See f.ex. The Work and the Living Inquiries.
There is a lot more here, and it keeps being further explored, adapted to our current modern culture, and widely available. Some of it – such as the effects of some types of meditation – is gaining increasing attention through research.
How did this myth of irreversible poor health come about? There may be many reasons, including the 1800s and early 1900s popularity of a mechanical analogy of life. And it’s maintained by – in part – professionals in the field holding onto what they learned in school (without looking into it for themselves), and also economic interests.
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aging (as we think of it, with poor mobility, sedate lifestyle etc.) is inevitable, that we cannot do much for our eye health, that the basics of how the mind works can’t be trained, that having one or two infectious diseases a year is to be expected, that we cannot heal our teeth and more. Fortunately, all that is changing, and it has been changing for a while.
– makes complete sense that stay healthy by acting healthy (exercise, yoga)
– and that can train a stable attention, can train the mind in different ways (different forms of meditation)
– also, that eye exercises are essential (as essential as any other exercise) for eye health
– and that can do a lot in natural (easy, inexpensive) dental care
– many areas that are in our “control”….. body, mind, eyes, teeth etc.
– essential and basic knowledge, a good idea to bring into schools from the beginning
– train the mind – stable attention, kindness/love, recognize our true nature etc.
– lp khalsa
– natural vision improvement – janet goodrich
– how i healed my teeth eating sugar – joey lott
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– blind spots in traditional western medicine
There was an odd myth in modern western culture that said that aging (as we think of it, with poor mobility, sedate lifestyle etc.) is inevitable, that we cannot do much for our eye health, that the basics of how the mind works can’t be trained, that having one or two infectious diseases a year is to be expected, that we cannot heal our teeth and more. Fortunately, all that is changing, and it has been changing for a while.