Holistic Herbal: A Safe and Practical Guide to Making and Using Herbal Remedies. David Hoffmann
Читать онлайн книгу.
to the humanistic therapies and those called transpersonal, which recognise and work with the spiritual dimension as well as other aspects of our being.
Spiritual integration
Inherent in the holistic view of humanity is the perception of an integrating centre, a spiritual core, a source of life and love. Healing can be brought about by integrating the experiences of daily existence with the inner core of our lives. There are many varieties of spiritual paths. The paths to God are as numerous as the people going there. In approaching human spirituality from the angle of healing, there are ways in which we can open to our higher selves, and ways in which others can affect our ‘spiritual bodies’. One approach would be prayer or a variety of meditation, and another spiritual healing or the techniques that work with what has been called the ‘subtle body’. A factor that must not be overlooked is the possibility of miracles, a profound form of healing, and perhaps the only time that healing is done for a person and then it is only done by the spirit.
In all this we can see how the inner process of healing can be helped by a multiplicity of approaches. Many are the ways to free up and liberate the body’s innate powers of wholeness and regeneration. However, no matter how sincere the attempts at healing, if we don’t also look at our lifestyle and way of being in the world to see what changes are indicated—the healing won’t really work.
An important first step in the process of healing is the removing of value judgements. Being ill is not ‘bad’ and being well is not ‘good’. This is not to deny that one is more preferable and appropriate, but the rigidity and pressure contained within any judgement of good and bad will itself contribute to the disease. Illness may often be an opportunity created within one’s life to change and transform, and seen this way, it may be approached with less resistance and disapproval. There are times when the problem is an opportunity to use strong will and fight the illness, and times to be still and at peace with the process. It is impossible to generalise as to the way of approaching the lesson offered. To judge it—and yourself—is a mistake.
It is worth remembering that we are what we eat, but also what we breathe, what we think, what we say, what we see. So whilst all of what has been said concerns our inner lives, the interaction with the environment we choose to live in is just as important. The important word here is choose. We can choose to change. We are powerful and free in our lives. If we cannot change the outer situation then we can change our attitude to it.
The belief system through which we interpret the world colours our experience of both the world and ourselves. Beliefs can limit our expression and the clear flow of energy and consciousness through us. It is good to examine our beliefs to see if they support our life and purpose. In tandem with this goes self-image. The way we see ourselves, our gifts and limitations, needs and strengths, physical appearance and health, will largely create us. Self-image can have a profound impact on health, as skin and weight problems demonstrate, although other factors may be involved too.
If our relationships are not healthy, we won’t be. We can create relationships that affirm us, that reinforce our movement towards health and wholeness. Consciously choose the people with whom you share your life and work. Do your home, work place and recreational space reflect to you joy and positivity? If not, then change it or yourself. This may be very difficult, but then that is what healing is about, transforming ourselves and our world.
The most important relationship of all is possibly the one we have with nature and the Planet. Well-being is dependent upon our interaction with Gaia, and wholeness can be expressed through a conscious interplay with the greater whole of which humanity is part. The spirit of life can freely flow from nature to humanity when given the opportunity. A mutuality of life is then created, the context within which all healthy relationships are built. This experience of nature may be climbing mountains or sitting under a tree. The form is not important. The openness to a communion with nature is.
What about the books we read, the films and television we watch, the billboards we see, the politics we support? Is the music we listen to good for our health? Are your friends good for you? These are all relevant questions, none of which have assumed answers. Healthy music is that which helps you to experience your wholeness. For some people this may be Bach whilst for others it may be The Grateful Dead. The task is taking responsibility for our own lives. We can choose who we want to be and then create ourselves!
A key to all self-healing is compassion. Expressing compassion for oneself creates an inner ease and clear perspective from which much can change and heal. Compassion grows in an openness to spirit in one’s life. The form is not important. The ineffable must be part of one’s life; meaning and significance, no matter how indefinable or subtle, must be actively present in one’s experience and expression. This may take the form of meditation, prayer or whatever works for each of us. The form is irrelevant, the content and attitude crucial. Openness to the experience of soul and spirit is healing, and affirms wholeness of being.
* Alice Bailey, Esoteric Healing, Lucis Press 1953 ‘Ibid
* Ibid
* J.E. Lovelock, Gaia, a New Look at Life on Earth, Oxford University Press, 1979.
* David Bohm, Wholeness and the Implicate Order, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980.
* These parallels are explored by Fritjof Capra in his excellent book The Tao of Physics, Fontana/Collins, 1975.
* Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy, Granada, 1980.
* J. Z. Young, Introduction to the Study of Man, Oxford University Press
The blood is the life, and free exchange, free sharing, free circulation of all that is required for right human living will characterise the world to be. Today these conditions do not exist, the body of humanity is diseased and its internal life disrupted. Instead of free circulation between all parts of the life aspect, there has been separation, blocked channels, congestion and stagnation. It has needed the terrific crisis of the present to arouse humanity to its diseased condition.
Alice Bailey
We begin our trip through the systems of the body by having a look at the circulatory system, as it is one that connects all the others, and affects all of them.
Whilst considering the circulatory system, let us keep in mind that it is a transport system we are looking at. In this section we are not yet concerned with what is being transported, namely the blood, which is a combination of various substances made up in different parts of the body. In this section we will be talking about the health and the right function of the heart and the blood vessels.
The vitality and tone of the whole circulatory system is fundamental to life and to the integration of all the parts of the body. If there is weakness or congestion present, it will have profound effects on the tissues and organs involved. The blood