Onions for Earaches
Every so often you encounter something that is so simple and effective, that you wonder why you didn't know about it before, and why doesn't someone put it in a “handbook” for life. One of the things that should most certainly be in that handbook, at least in the category of home treatments for common illness, is the use of an onion compress for an earache. Yes, it will make you or your child smell like onions, and it sounds ridiculously simple, but in the middle of the night it can really be your friend.
The Menstrual Cycle as a Breathing Process
Sometimes the most beautiful and important part of our physiology is flexibility. Can we shift and change ourselves? We do, of course, carry this out all the time—for when we take in a breath we open ourselves to the world around us (Rudolf Steiner actually pointed out that we are much more intimately related to our environment through respiration than through digestion or touch). Then when we breathe out, we cut ourselves off from outside world, and release what we do not need any more (carbon dioxide, nitrogen, etc.) This is a very regular, and familiar cycle, one which we generally carry out 16–24 times a minute. But there are other ways that we breathe too. The menstrual cycle can be understood as one such kind of respiration, one that brings aspects not just of inside and outside, but also life and death, generosity and loss.
Where does Anxiety come from?
Feeling anxious? Then you probably need to reconnect your thinking with your feet. Why is that true? Well, anxiety, in all its different forms usually means that we are thinking, watching, waiting, and can't quite let go of that activity. Sometimes exaggerated sensing activity is healthy and appropriate—for example, if a dog jumped out and bit your leg, then you should be extra watchful and guarded if you have to walk by that dog's house again. But if you became so worried that you never went for a walk, or find that when you do go for a walk you are still worrying about the dog long after you have arrived home, closed the door, even gotten into bed in your pajamas, then that watchfulness is no longer healthy. In a way, our nervous system gets stuck in the “on” position and doesn't switch off (another term for this could be hyper-vigilance).
Healing from the Inside, Out
Why do you go and see the doctor? Usually it is to get something—a prescription, a lab test, a diagnosis, an operation. Occasionally it is just for reassurance, but usually it is because we feel that we need something. And that is true a lot of the time. We can't do it all by ourselves. But receiving external treatments does not solve every situation, and it can even make us assume that our bodies, or our diet, or our genes are inherently broken and lacking something. That takes away a lot of our power to heal. In fact, today's pharmaceutical drug development looks to find conditions that require a medication that you will need to take for the rest of your life. That's good business, but it is not good healing. The truth is that there are many conditions that require us to make a shift and heal from the inside, out.
Sigh, From Expansion to Duty—The End of Summer Journey into Fall
At the beginning of June we all experienced how at the beginning of summer it is hard to stay focused and responsible. This is because the whole natural world is breathing out. That expansion went a long way, and hopefully you had some opportunities to branch out, explore, and melt a little. That felt good, but just now, in the last few days, it is beginning to shift. Did you feel it? There are outer changes accompanying it—the days are getting noticeably shorter now, and if you look, the plant life has stopped growing up and out—so the whole gesture of the season is subtly different. For the plants, this cessation of growth does not mean that their activity has stopped, but it is now related more to refining the quality of what is already there. This is a time for ripening: grapes are starting to soften and sweeten, pears find a blush of color.
How Much Animal Protein Should I Eat?
This is a question that gets asked all the time, and the answer is: it depends on how grounded you need to be! So, sadly (perhaps, if you were looking for the one and final answer), this means that there really is not a universal dietary recommendation for everyone! This is a truth which gets reinforced in the medical practice all the time. And what is even more interesting, is that the correct amount may change for an individual person over the course of different life stages. Why? Because animal protein makes you more focused, more “earthy” and at some stages that feels very good, and at others it is way too much.
What is an allergy?
It's clear that allergies are much more prevalent today than they were in the past. One study estimated that rates of pediatric allergy have increased by 600% since 1970, so that a child today is about 7 times more likely to have an allergy than 40 years ago. What is contributing to this? There are probably many factors, but when we begin to think about allergy as a disruption of our healthy borders–first a loss of border too far in, and then a pushing of our border too far out–we can better understand how it can be addressed. Because we need to start at the root cause. Antihistamines and steroids reduce the inflammatory symptoms, but they do not heal our boundary. So it is useful to look at two extremes of border imbalance.
Falling Asleep is Hard to Do—Some Useful Tips
Falling asleep should be easy, right? Because we don't have to do anything special, we just stop our daytime activities and we should be able to go right to sleep. This may make sense logically, but it is a fallacy, mostly because in many areas of life we have lost our appreciation of the importance of transitions. That is partly because we are all trying to fit so many things into our day, and partly because we have become more and more accustomed to quick convenience.
Strengthening our Vitality During Cold and Flu Season
This winter has been tough, with a lot of people experiencing a wide variety of colds, flu, bronchitis, you name it! One method to try to avoid getting sick is to stay away from anyone that is sick (which unless you are a hermit in a cave is pretty challenging). A different approach is to say: well, when I get sick my body makes me do certain things, and one of them is to slow down. Indeed, having to lie in bed for a week is an effective way to slow down, but one that most of us would rather avoid. We can influence our health by remembering that very many people find they get sick when they have been over-extending themselves—trying to cram in too much into too little time. They have gotten “toxic” (think of work deadlines, studying for final exams, travel with disrupted sleep and eating rhythms). And a process of inflammation makes us slow down and simplify (whether we want to or not), and cleanses the body.
Can we consciously influence our health?
When you ask this question of a large group of people, you are certain to get a variety of answers. Some will say “yes, absolutely!” and will give you examples of how mindfulness exercises (like meditation), exercise, a healthy diet and good social connections all improve your health. And there are indeed many clinical studies which have shown this to be true. How we think, and what we decide to do can have a definite influence on who we are and how we live. But there will also be a group of people who will say “no, not if you are really sick,” and can tell you that when you are having a gallbladder attack you can meditate are hard as you want, but what you really need is a surgeon. In a similar way, anyone who has experienced a major depression (which seems like it should be more accessible to our thinking than an inflamed gallbladder) can tell you that feeling better is not a matter of merely sitting down and deciding to feel “happier.” It doesn't work like that. So no, we can't really influence our health with our consciousness, but we can. The challenge is that the answer to the question seems to be both “yes!” and “no!” depending on who ask and what you are considering.
What is an anthroposophic medicine and how is it chosen?
The medicines that are used in anthroposophic medicine (also often referred to as “remedies”) come from the natural world. Most are prepared from plants and minerals, a select few from the animal world, with very special attention given to the purity and quality of the substances. While most conventional pharmaceutical drugs are made synthetically, usually from petroleum, anthroposophic medicines are sourced from nature, and handled thoughtfully and carefully to protect the living qualities of the substance. This is important, because the chemical composition of a substance is an important “footprint” of the particular plant, but it is not the whole thing. In a way it is at most a marker of what happens when the process of a plant comes to rest. There is a chemical pattern which is representative of a process, but it is not the whole process. Anthroposophic medicines are trying to incorporate the whole process of a mineral, plant, or animal.
Is there a link between the body and the mind, the soul, the spirit?
This question strikes at the very heart of anthroposophic medicine, because the answer is: yes! This is done out of the fundamental understanding that the human being's physical body is indeed a miraculous structural and biochemical organization. But there is more to a person than the physical body with its bones, muscles and organs, and this “more” can be observed and worked with. This larger perspective is actually part of almost every healing tradition around the world–what makes anthroposophic medicine unique is that it is trying to bridge that broader spiritual understanding with modern scientific insights. Everyone who practices anthroposophic medicine has done a full conventional medical training, and then does extra study and training to incorporate a truly holistic picture (body, soul and spirit) into medicine.