Medical Weblog. Lots of resources and information

THE SELF-MANAGEMENT OF ANXIETY: HOW TO DO THE EXERCISES-ACHIEVING REGRESSION

When we have attained relaxation of our mind, we have already started on the way to regression. In regression we allow our mind to function in a simpler, more primitive fashion. The main features of this state of mind are that we are less alert and less critical. Regression of this nature is necessary to allow us to abandon our old faulty patterns of reaction, so that we can learn again new and better ways of reacting.

Remember that this regression of which we speak is quite a normal process. We all experience it in our moments of quiet reverie. At these times we let our mind wander, and are no longer concerned with our immediate surroundings. In other words we cease to be alert and critical, and our mind is working at a simpler and more primitive level of organization.

We continue our exercises, allowing ourselves to neglect what is going on around us. We let ourselves lose awareness of the things in the room where we are. We temporarily abandon our critical faculties. If a truck passes in the street, we hear the noise, we don’t think of it as being a heavily laden truck going past in the street; it is just a noise. This is what I mean by allowing ourselves to be uncritical.

We can now proceed with our exercises.

We feel the calm of it all through us.—We feel it in our body; we feel it in our mind.—The calm pervades us.—We let ourselves go.—We let go, and we drift.—We drift in the calm of it.

—Just letting ourselves go, we drift more and more.

This exercise is easy enough. It is merely a combination of two things which we have already achieved. We learned the letting-go feeling from the letting go of our muscles in relaxation. We have also learned to experience the feeling of calm in our mind as a continuation of the feeling of calm in our body. All we do now is combine these two. We let ourselves go in the calm. We do this, and we feel ourselves drifting in the calm that is all about us.

Like most of the different parts of the exercises, the drifting sensation does not usually come all at once in its complete form. Rather, at first, there are moments of drifting. Then it stops, and we allow ourselves to let go again, and the drifting returns.

When we achieve this drifting sensation, we have in fact regressed; in this state of mind we are no longer fully alert and critical as we are in our normal waking state.

We let ourselves go with it.—We let ourselves go more and more completely.—Each breath, we let ourselves go as we breathe out.—We let go our breath; we let go ourselves, more and still more completely.

This is the general outline of the procedure. Each individual will make modifications to suit the particular needs of his own personality, his particular symptoms and the particular circumstances in which he is situated. As I have already said, it is important to get into the routine of just presenting the various ideas to the mind. Do not think about the ideas in logical fashion, as this prevents regression.

*69\57\2*

THE ROLE OF NUTRITION IN ARTHRITIS TREATMENT: LIVING FOODS

The third rule of vital nutrition is that all foods should be eaten as fresh as possible. Fruits and vegetables should be eaten raw, not cooked, canned, or frozen. If cooking is necessary they should be cooked as little as possible, preferably steamed or cooked with little or no water. All broth, of course, should be used also.

Raw foods contain enzymes which are essential for the proper digestion and assimilation of food. Cooking destroys all the enzymes, 100 per cent. In addition, cooking destroys many of the vitamins. Vitamins B and C are particularly vulnerable to the effects of heat. Minerals are depleted by cooking and are usually thrown away with the cooking water.

Freezing, canning, drying, salting, preserving, and prolonged storage are all more or less destructive to the nutritive quality of the food.

Contrary to popular notion, foods in their raw state are more easily digestible than in the cooked state. This is particularly true with fruits and most vegetables.

Furthermore, raw foods act as a cleansing agent of the digestive and eliminative systems and are the best preventive measures against constipation.

Dr. Robert Bell hit the nail on the head when he said, “Man is the only creature upon this earth who spoils his food before he eats it.” Cooked food is dead food. Only living foods can build healthy bodies.

According to famous nutritionist Dr. Royal Lee, D.D.S., arthritis in animals could be experimentally caused by feeding them cooked foods exclusively.

*26\176\2*