Living by what you value most

In order to understand your core values, you must first become aware of which areas require attention in your life in order to accept and promote change.

My recent insights to working with Indian weightlifters has brought about deeper thought, as to what maintains their continual personal growth, enthusiasm and inquisitive nature towards their sport and life purpose? If one of these athletes begins to loose touch with their passions, activities and immunity, why might this be? what value has been acutely/chronically suppressed.?. and most importantly, which areas require the most missing attention..?

Everyone/thing will have their unique degrees of appreciation, love and value for areas that influence their living experiences. 
The mango tree, for example, will undoubtedly crave the rising of the morning sun after 10 hours of "stressful- depressive- darkness", whereas the owl will likely be keeping its eyes rested for the coming nocturnal hunt and the 'high rise' city communications manager, will only see light of day if her "skinny latte" is timed to perfection. 
Its obvious throughout collective societies that each and everyone of us value such an aurae of experiences, and this can be seen not only in ones psycho-physcial representation but also how we each aim to balance our lives in search of what we perceive to be, vitality and happiness.

Studying the 'CHEK' philosophy and many avenues of physiology has given me the opportunity to begin to appreciate firstly, what is function and what enhances function, so when it comes to 'what causes dysfunction'? the answer is simply 'anything that overrides and impairs our balance/homeostasis'. In relation to enhancing ones understanding of what they 'value most', and relating this to their overall health, I have taken, adapted and created with the help of Gee photography, a holistic template that signifies areas that must be considered in balance if one is to maintain a high degree of vitality and effectively prevent dysfunction.

As you'll hopefully be able to see, the picture at the top of this post represents 'six areas of practice', six unique, yet broad, yet closely influenced concepts, that are required to sustain life of any warm organism (as we know it). I will offer my thoughts on the importance of establishing a healthy relationship with these six areas. 

The Foods of life:
Knowing what foods you should eat seems to be the question of the century, right?. I don't think its a coincidence that populations all over the globe have exposure to athletic physiques, widely formed skulls, minimal chronic diseases and individuals who experience pain-free longevity, whilst they all seem to eat vastly different food types, ratios and frequencies. Most of the structures that make up the human body as well as other animals and plants are made from three basic classes of molecules: proteins, carbohydrates and fats. These molecules play a vital

Digestible, cellularly supporting,
tropical fruits

role in metabolic function in both making these molecules during the construction of cells and tissues, or by breaking them down and using them as a source of energy via digestion.
Most of the nutrients being consumed today are out of balance (common), infrequent, undigestible (very common), not enough or too much for the individual consuming them. 
Whatever stage of healing or performance you may be at, its important to realise that for optimal development and or regeneration you must approach your organism as a system of systems, by that I mean, you can't aim to influence only one site, organ, muscle or tissue without effecting your whole biological makeup. Food does heal. It is a matter of finding the right nutrients in the right amounts and in the proper frequency based off what your body is expressing metabolically. This is the ONLY way to define the perfect diet for you!

The ticking mind:
Influenced by our environment and a continual continuation of meaning hidden behind stories…The fast paced concrete jungle forces us to suppress emotions, ignore transparency and cover our insecurities in order to prevent heart vulnerability. I may be stereotyping my way through a lot of the population, but from what I've observed, that stereotype isn't going anywhere. Though from the "Funcomfortable" people that i've been exposed to and the teachings of certain authors that have struck deep into my pineal gland, their message is simple; 'learn to reveal what you'd most typically conceal'. As i'm aware, that concept is likely going to cater for an honest and transparent (otherwise known as "uncomfortable") conversation. 
Whats most personal is generally most universal, so by opening yourself to vulnerability (emotionally) and authenticity from others, you'll likely find that the pain of denial will disperse and the exposure to their expression of judgement towards you will often promote connection. Turn the suppression of anger coming inwards, out, by communicating openly and authentically with yourself and the ones closest to you! Keep growing…

Your depth of breath:
Your ability to efficiently pass air through the nasal cavities and effectively diffuse oxygen within the membranes of every red blood cell (with carbon dioxides help), is considered the most foundationaly-basic-essential function of most organisms. Without an 'optimal' breathing state, you'll likely be "centrally- a nervous wreck", and whilst you can open yourselves to more info regarding the importance of nasal breathing (Solutions for the mouth breather), you might just like to start by slowing down, laying down, retaining some CO2, putting your tongue to the roof of the mouth and begin to create a closer relationship with your breath.  

Movement matters:

Even if your "loosing", keep moving

Keeping it simply stimulating, dynamic and fun is by far the most realistic way of maintaining a pattern of movement that engages your body and mind everyday. Your body has chambers of the heart to pump the blood, but the water and lymph require you to move your arse against gravities presence. Most people cannot afford the energy to undertake excessive stressful exercise, so only if all foundational systems (digestion, elimination, reparation, circulatory patterns, body temp etc..) are catered for first, then you could consider  episodes of higher intensity work. The best movement is the one your willing to do most regularly and by keeping it consistent, you'll make a habit for life.

Rest and regeneration:
Restoring sleep requires fairly vigorous metabolism and a normal body temperature. In old age or over exposure to stress, the metabolic rate is decreased, a lack of tolerance to the cold sets in and sleep steadily becomes defective. As mentioned before 'we are a system of systems' both physiologically and across the foundational levels too. Its no surprise that the foods you eat or do not eat, the perceived positive/negative emotions your exposed to, the amount of sunlight you get etc.. all effect your ability to enter deep, restoring REM (rapid eye movement). From my observations chronic fatigue is probably one of the most undiagnosed issues associated with todays population and to approach this 'problem' intelligently, requires a closer look and appreciation of the six/seven foundational practices, if one is to regain sound sleep.   

Cellular hydration:
Most foods contain more than 70% water and its important that we understand that we can get sufficiently hydrated with the correct, digestible foods that we choose to consume. Some water is also produced in the cells via metabolism. Water is key and at times depending on the status and environment of the individual, dilution can really be the solution. Consuming enough to halt thirst, first thing after a 8-10 hour night fast with added salts is important in order to down regulate the stressful effects that darkness has produced (RP, 2007). 
Water may play an essential role, but if one is in a deficient metabolic state and producing

A balanced hydration source;
no filters, no chemical waste,
no chlorine, no fluoride etc.. 

excessive lactic acid, estrogen, serotonin or polyamines i.e. causing excitation, then its likely that their tissues vascular endothelium's and the cells which have a more affinity for water (salt decreases the cells affinity for water) will be holding onto and taking up water, causing excess swelling, inflammation and oedema. So rather than prescribing 'more' water, lets consider the physiology and use nutrition/lifestyle to influence the hormonal status and to heal the metabolism effectively (By simply adding quality salt to water we can look to down regulate the adaptive metabolic state and reduce waters holding in the tissues, and more so in the blood).



and just to really establish a strong hold, I might have added in the importance of getting enough clean solar rays in relation to darkness. That being said, no harm would come of moving outside in the midday sun and eating outside during the morning rise/evening fall.

Its important to note that if at any stage of your journey through cyber space you encounter episodes of emotional suppression i.e. depression, or if fear begins to dictate your life or even any kind of physiological status begins to feel weird… Sitting down (of laying down) and openly re-evaluating the six areas of foundational practice and your own core values is an essential process to see if you are still living the path of your dream.


Live with purpose.

Beatle.



Broda Barnes (its not your mind its your liver)
Chek HCL 1/2
How to eat move and be healthy (PC)
Hans Selye articles
5 yrs of clinical/personal observations/experiences
Eastwesthealingandperformance.com
             

Awareness, Acceptance and Action for women's health

Most women do not get excited about the monthly visit from “the delicate wave or Aunt flo.” In fact, most wish they did not have it and many actually take medication to stop it! What this tells me is how very little women know about their monthly cycle and their bodies needs. 

Its how the soils function, similar to that of our own gut,
that raises concern to the amount of waste being put
into it, the reabsorption of carcinogenic molecules from
the plastic is heading its way into the food supply.

Over the last 40 years, across all continents and altitudes, there have been HUGE changes in the environment and peoples lifestyles. Our food supply is dirty, our water is dirty, our air is polluted, we work more, spend more, accumulate more debt, don’t sleep, never rest and are always playing catch up with an ever "over excited" mind.

Nowadays, to some degree, we can say we are witnessing the results of a 40-year study in which the effects of birth control, hormone replacement therapy, increased environmental toxins (plastics, heavy metals, pesticides, unsaturated fats), a society full of expectation and deficiencies and along with other factors, are proving detrimental.

Over the past 40 years we have seen and experienced a dramatic rise in female related illnesses (descriptions at bottom of page):

• The average age for puberty has dropped abruptly to 10 years of age. 
• Endometriosis affects more then 5.5 million women. One of the leading 3 causes of female infertility.
• 75% of all women suffer with some premenstrual syndrome symptoms (PMS)
• 80% of all women have uterine fibroids. hundreds of thousands of hysterectomies are performed annually due to uterine fibroids.
• Dysmenorrhea affects approximately 40-70% of women of reproductive age. 10% describe severe symptoms.
• Amenorrhea affects 25-60% of female athletes, 25% of runners and 1.8 to 5% of the population.

Now a lot of women and medical practitioners are taught that these things just happen. I personally believe that the way you manage your life, how you eat,  your up bringing, education etc.. are all going to set the stage to how well you manage to regulate your cycle, symptoms and negative perceptions of a naturally occurring, magnificently orchestrated event designed for the purpose of new life, that doesn't have to be seen negatively at all. 

Understanding the issue through gaining awareness of your own body is the first step to healing. It takes awareness in order to feel pain, experience loss and know when your body needs nourishing, and as far as my observations have sent me, most women know when there in pain (and all know how to express it).

Though its the journey of acceptance through understanding, what is the cause of the pain? or what is the cause of this 'out of balance' experience? that so many women have difficulty piecing together.

There are many theories, ideas and opinions associated with women's health and thats merely because of the complexities and differences between working with males and females, just because you can heal Tarzan doesn't mean it'll work for Jane.  

Lets delve into a little science so that we can gain some awareness, in order to understand and accept what the real issue is. 

Cholesterol (don't be scared) is the basic building block for steroidal hormones. Without cholesterol the manufacturing of all steroidal hormones cannot take place in the tiny energy packets called mitochondria. Mitochondria are found within every cell of the body except red blood cells. In order to convert our beloved cholesterol into pregnenalone and then into one of the females most important hormones 'progesterone' (secreted by the ovaries), we must firstly be supporting a healthy thyroid (T3) production and secondly consuming plenty of vitamin A, sucrose, sunlight, selenium, potassium, calcium etc.. to supply the essential glands the minerals and usable material to support homeostasis (or as close to as possible). 

At rest your brain and red blood cells need sugar

and they will keep burning sugar regardless 

of where they get it i.e. muscle/organ tissue if need be

In a metabolically healthy and well-nourished body the formation of pregnenolone from cholesterol is
efficient and minimizes the need for cortisol (stress-yet essential hormone) by inhibiting ACTH. The cortisol is synthesised by progesterone within the adrenal glands when needed, we shouldn't be running off of cortisol, only using it at times of acute stress and need for survival i.e. when sprinting in a 60m dash or when you stub your toe. 

So, when we run into deficiencies in thyroid hormone, vitamin A, light, magnesium and potassium you'll likely be decreasing the conversion of pregnenolone and progesterone, therefore stimulating the production of cortisol and other adaptive stress hormones. When a females system becomes heavily compromised and has low resilience to environmental stressors, the system is only capable of sustaining the stress hormones cortisol and aldosterone production, leading to degenerative problems (catabolism/breaking down), progesterone deficiencies and most noticeably prevalent, 'estrogen excesses'.

What can be seen, understood and accepted from a progesterone deficient and estrogen dominant system and how can we find balance?

Signs and Symptoms;  

• Severe cramping, blood clotting, migraines and heavy bleeding
• Consistent Low body temperature and pulse
• Mood swings, anxity and frequenct insecurities
• Chronic constipation, IBS and low energy/fatigue
• Water retention, cellulite and liver spots 
• Consistant poor sleep and waking around 2-4am

"Estrogen is very dangerous if not checked by its opposing hormone, progesterone, which surges from the corpus luteum after ovulation and lowers estrogen and its effects by eliminating it from cells. When progesterone is available, it destroys the estrogen receptor and inhibits the enzymes that stimulate estrogen production. Progesterone is very strongly anti-estrogen and is key for balance"- Broda Barnes (1938).

To further expand on what were already aware of, as to what causes a suppression in 'normal hormonal regulation' i.e. deficient thyroid, vit A, stress, lack of light etc.. I'd ask you to consider and look at the comparative nature of the typical western female and the rural, lets say 'more traditional' female, in terms of lifestyles, aspirations, food consumption, skeletal development, exposures to environmental toxicity etc..

Native maori's of NZ, known to have the finest of
physiques, notice the wide upper jaws
perfect bite, skeletal development and zero cavities.

There are certain characteristics of various diets consumed by the more primitive, less influenced populations, which universally present a higher resistance and immunity to disease and freedom from deformities. In general, these are the foods that provide adequate sources of body-building and body-repairing material. The imbalances of foods and the diets consumed by the more urban-concreted-western women should be understood as a key influencer in their ability to regulate their own health status and prevent symptoms of modern dis-ease, and should also not be neglected when journeying through the healing process. 

                   

                     
Comparative food lists and health status from New Zealand (Aotearoa);

Traditional Maoris vs. Modern Maoris 

Shell fish vs. Japanese/Californian tinned mercury Tuna

Kiore (Polynesian rat) and Kurī (Polynesian dog) vs. Lamb and Cows 

Moa (huge flightless bird) vs. Fried chicken wings

Kumara, Yams, Taro (root veg) vs. Chips, crisps and packaged convenience  

Fern root vs……? 

Hinau, Karaka,Tawa (berries) vs. Pesticide rich, unripe, out of season fruit

Spring waters and tonics made from seaweed vs. Chlorine tap water or Lemon and Paeroa

With the help of the white man, tooth decay has become

rampant amongst the new zealanders, 

suffering from dental caries and abscessed teeth is very great

in the most modernized Maori.

Though this a global issue, its not just the dramatic changes in dietary food consumption that has probably changed and impacted the health of millions of women. With the added expectations governed by schooling education, media perception and representation of a female growing up in a concrete jungle and the added pressure to live by social norms. An increasing mental/emotional and spiritual burden has been placed on to already compensated and stressed physiologies.

We can see from the observations and findings of various expeditionists and travelling medical practitioners of the 19th and early 20th centuries, that the health status of individuals that have slowly moved away from their native dietary staples and ways of life, begin to experience and become exposed to narrowing skulls, crowding teeth, cavities, respiratory issues and generally smaller less athletic physiques through each generation.

These findings are now seen as a norm within most western societies and are often treated with pharmaceuticals that pay no attention to familiar lifestyles. I don't believe its possible for us all to head back and live as we once did outside of the concrete and these redialed cities, but we do have a large control over the life we choose to live, the food we put in, the genes we wish to pass on, the level of rest we want to give ourselves and the degree of attention we wish to pay our body/mind.      

Action: 

Now that you've taken the time to accept that most out of your out of balance experiences (PMS, menopause, hot flushes, endometriosis, infertility) are in fact NOT normal or at least shouldn't be as extreme/prolonged as they are, its now a good time to introduce a few steps to help you, help yourself and take action towards enhanced vitality. 

• Manage lifestyle stressors: Healing cannot take place if one is constantly fighting against the rage of expectation and environmental toxins. Elevated stress hormones are only designed to keep you alive at times of need, their long term suppressive effects will inhibit supporting catalysts that are required for optimal function, leading to an aurae of deficiencies.

• Learn to regulate blood sugar often: Eating frequently and balanced meals that come from the soil, consisting of carbohydrates, fats and proteins from traditional supporting foods. A lack of food frequency and food ratios, will often present symptoms of cold hands, feet, inner thighs and nose, a typical sign that the individual is not able to regulate blood sugar effectively (stress) and is mostly dominating her stress response i.e. pushing the blood away from the extremities and towards vital organs i.e. you can't live without a liver but you can without a hand. 

• Avoid Unsaturated Fats: Elevated estrogen levels perpetuate chronic stress and deplete glycogen storages in the liver. This combination signals the release of fatty acids into the blood stream to be converted into glucose and used as energy. Polyunsaturated fats inhibit cellular respiration pushing the body deeper into the vicious cycle of inflammation- Jeanne Rubin (2014) 

• Keep your bowels clean: A sluggish bowel results in the re-absorption of estrogen back into the bloodstream (enterohepatic recirculation) and increases exposure to endotoxin putting further strain on the liver. Thyroid deficiency is historically related to constipation so once again the health of the thyroid is a vital component to prevent or reverse estrogen dominance. Salt and sugar lower cortisol, adrenaline, and aldosterone and improve gut motility as does a diet that contain foods digestible by humans (Raw carrots are a good bowel motility food)- FPS (2014)

• Practice self acceptance: How much do I let my physical appearance dictate my personality and emotions? Just imagine if we had no mirrors, no photos or videos? Would you be more or less confident? I bet it would be much more common to see "mismatched" couples. Or more common to see "less attractive" people being much more assertive and "more attractive" people acting all shy and what not. Try to avoid living up to expectation and be you!

Prepare to surf the wave that life is serving up and enjoy the healing journey

Be wise

Beatle.

Endometriosis: Tissues that normally line the inside of the uterus (endometrium), grow outside the uterus, commonly involving the ovaries and bowels.
Dysmenorrhea: Painful cramping around the abdomen, lower back and inner thighs prior to menstruating.
Amenorrhea: The absence of menstruation at reproductive age, missing 3 or more in row is considered diagnostic of amenorrhea.
Homeostasis: A built in adaptive mechanism at work constantly adjusting our internal systems based on the environmental stimuli. Homeostasis is required for optimal metabolism and optimal metabolism is required to maintain homeostasis. A disruption in either negatively affects the other.
Progesterone: The main hormone produced by the ovaries, antagonistic to estrogen and essential in the promotion gestation (pregnancy).
Pregnenalone: Produced in large amounts by younger populations, our main defence against harmful side effects and coverts predominately into progesterone and DHEA.
ACTH: Adrenocorticotropic hormone, produce in the pituitary gland in response to stress.

Ref:
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#ch15
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/606136/Health-experts-study-changes-in-Maori-diet
Death by Medicine by Gary Null, PhD et al.

http://eastwesthealing.com

Radio Interview – Progesterone v. Estrogen – EastWest Healing Blog Talk
Serotonin, depression, and aggression: The problem of brain energy by Ray Peat, PhD

Broda barnes; Its not your mind, its your liver