The 12 Elixirs: A Handbook of Natural Health Care

By Dr. T. L. Riabokin

Your body does nothing randomly. It is always talking to you. It is always telling you what you need to do to get well and stay healthy.

Take a good look at yourself. Your health history and your healing prescriptions are written all over your body …

Listening to and obeying your body’s cues can help you become much more self reliant regarding your health. What are some of these cues?

desiring specific foods breathing patterns skin blemishes itches certain behaviors

What does a craving for sweet or sour really mean in your body? How should you best respond? What does the appearance and location of a mole mean? How does the location of your pain direct you to proper therapeutic choices? The Twelve Elixirs are your guide. They are your birthright. Mastering any one of them will direct you to better health. Such self-reliance requires basic knowledge and calls for the common sense health guidance once acquired at the knees of our mothers and fathers.

Patient X grew back a chipped tooth. Patient Y regained her sight. Patient Z eliminated her chronic pain. They did so in part by partaking of The Twelve Elixirs.

Mastering the art of living healthfully is neither complicated nor difficult; it only requires awakening the knowledge you already possess, and nobody knows your body like you do.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Apr 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781504350792

Dr. T. L. Riabokin

A Minnesota native, Dr. Riabokin has been in private family practice as a holistic chiropractic physician since 1982. A graduate of Northwestern Health Sciences University Chiropractic doctorate program and a diplomat of the National Commission for the Certification of Acupuncturists and Oriental Medicine, her practice encourages patients to take charge of their own health and, thereby, decrease their reliance on doctors—of any kind. Dr. R., as she is known to her patients, continues to practice in Hopkins and Ely, Minnesota.

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Copyright © 2016 Tatiana Riabokin.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-5043-5078-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-5079-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016903443

Balboa Press rev. date: 04/12/2016

CONTENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

PART I Principles Of Health And Healing

1. No One Knows You Better Than You Do

2. Your Body Will Tell You What To Do

3. Reading Your Body

4. What Is Normal?

5. Adaptation and Health

6. Environment

7. The Mind in Health and Disease

8. Preventing Disease

9. Your Family Health Book

PART II The Phases Of Life

10. In the Womb

11. Birth

12. Childhood—The First Seven Years

13. Childhood—The Second Seven Years

14. Puberty

15. Adulthood

16. Advanced Age

17. Death

PART III The Twelve Elixirs

18. Breathing

19. Water

20. Movement

21. Sleep

22. Play

23. Rest

24. Work

25. Elimination

26. Food

27. Protection

28. Recovery

29. The Mind

IN PARTING

PART IV Appendices

A. Acupressure

B. Baths

C. Broths

D. Cleansing

E. Compresses, Packs, and Poultices

F. Enemas

G. Energy Drinks

H. Exercise

I. Food

J. Herbs and Teas

K. Massage

L. Organ Maintenance

M. Relaxation and Stress

N. Vitamins

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Nature has given humankind Twelve Elixirs.

To partake of them

Is to partake of a long and healthy life.

We learn to drink their sweet nectar

At the feet of our mothers and fathers.

If we forget

Their gentle wisdom,

Life and Nature are always there to remind us.

Thank you, to all my patients.

All good medicine,

Dr. R.

For Tess and Malanka

and

Bo, Andrew, Walter, Ole, Kolya, Maria, Tiko, and Miko

You

Are the Future

PREFACE

The Twelve Elixirs is a collection of lectures given to you, my patients, over the last thirty years. It is for you that this information is being put down in print after many years of requests to do so.

Not only were these lectures/lessons for you but many came from you. These lessons were also themselves patient. Once given, they often would remain in the memories or in the notes of my patients until such a time came that a patient was finally able to put them to use. Although the recommendations given are simple, change is often not. Time and patience are great healers.

This handbook is an expansion on the lessons my patients came to know as the Basic Health Habits. Time and again, it became apparent that the diseases my patients suffered from involved a deficit of one or more of these habits. These habits are, indeed, elixirs. If I could bottle them and have you take but a sip each day, long life and good health would be yours. Alas, you must do the work yourself, and as most of you have found, these habits are not difficult.

I take no credit for the wisdom in these lessons as they have been handed down for many generations. It is to all those healers that came before me that I am profoundly grateful. Like all wisdom, these lessons have stood the test of time and are as applicable now as they were years ago, always allowing for adaptation to current circumstances.

I am indebted to all those healers who offered me their wisdom and guidance. Some I received in person, some via the written or spoken word, and some by the passion of their example. Some information has solid scientific research backing it. Some information is still awaiting the funds and feasibility for science to explain it. Some comes from anthropological and archeological writings that contained bits of old wisdom woven within the material. Additionally, some of this comes from sayings, songs, novels, diaries, and film.

It is from lullabies that I first learned that children were traditionally nursed until their fifth to seventh year. This was found within every culture from which I could glean such data. It was referred to in the film The Last Emperor. The sixth year (give or take a year) corresponds to the eruption of the secondary teeth, which corresponds to a major maturation phase of the digestive system. It all made perfect sense to me. Is it really important to know that we used to nurse our children for so long? I think so. The initial appearance of many disorders can be traced directly to major phase transitions, such as the time of weaning, tooth eruption, puberty, pregnancy. These events can be stressful. How well we go through them may have profound implications for the body. Indeed, the first seven years of life are the most important for determining the quality of our health for the rest of our lives.

I owe a debt of gratitude to many.

First and foremost I would like to thank Dr. Ralph Reimer. A graduate of National College of Chiropractic in 1943, he was one of the very first doctors, of any specialty, to travel to China shortly after President Richard Nixon opened that country up to US travel and exchange. He practiced electro-acupuncture long before most people in Minnesota knew anything about acupuncture. The philosophy of health and disease in traditional Chinese medicine is similar in many ways to that of American chiropractic. He also suffered harassment at the hands of the medical establishment, as did many nonmedical doctors of his time. More than once, governmental officials showed up at his clinic unannounced. They would trash the clinic, even removing equipment and taking it out to the front sidewalk and smashing it there. He never spoke unkindly of them or anyone else. He understood human nature.

Dr. Reimer saved many lives using natural, time-tested, earth-friendly, nonpolluting methods: chiropractic, nutrition, reflex points, acupuncture, cleansing, massage, colonics. Like many chiropractors of his age he was an eclectic, utilizing many natural therapies in pursuit of health for his patients. His own life was saved by chiropractic. When he contracted hepatitis, back when it was a death sentence, he found himself in a hospital isolation ward with two similarly afflicted patients. Every day, twice a day, his chiropractic colleague Dr. DeRusha and an aide would come to the hospital to visit him. While one stood guard on the lookout for hospital personnel (who would have had them thrown out if they knew that they were adjusting the patient), the other would adjust Dr. Reimer. Dr. Reimer lived; the other two patients died.

By providential guidance, I answered an ad for a doctor’s office assistant for Dr. Reimer’s office. At the time, I had no idea what chiropractic was. I took the job while continuing my premed studies at the University of Minnesota. It wasn’t long before I discovered that there was something very different about this kind of healing. Dr. Reimer had an intimate knowledge of human physiology unlike that of his medical colleagues. His relationship with the patient was a gentle one of maneuvering physiology within the individual limitations of each patient. His patients loved him. His therapies were gentle. No one was bound to a life of pharmaceutical drugs or relegated to removal of an organ wrongly deemed to be no longer repairable. He is the one who set me upon my path of chiropractic and natural medicine.

I am also indebted to Dr. Jay Wilson, the first doctor I interned for and from whom I learned the value of patience, forbearance, and love when dealing with patients; Dr. Sue Esch, who first taught me how to take nothing for granted in the human body and how to glean information from every mark that appeared upon the body; Dr. Leon Hammer, an acupuncturist and renowned pulse reader, who taught me the art of attitude when reading the pulses; and Dr. Ralph Alan Dale, who brought the art of acupuncture to so many.

I would like to thank the many people who so graciously helped realize this book. Their critiques and support were much appreciated. Erin Heep McKenzie, my editor; Joy Conrad, my director at Balboa; Hannah Harrington, my personal assistant; and my readers and listeners—Dick and Sandra Haines, Mary and Jeff Bisek, Jan and Dave Merhar, Hannah Lakin, Claire Newman, Carol Bjorneberg, Rebecca Kali, Yars Lozowchuk, Victoria Gray, Deb Sahlstrom, Dr. T. Hadley, Dr. B. Finer and members of the Ely Writers’ Group.

Finally, I would like to thank my family for their patience, for being a laboratory for my experiments, and for providing the ongoing opportunity for the day-to-day observational study of subjects so necessary to the understanding of the exquisite wisdom of the body.

Dr. T. L. Riabokin

January 2015

INTRODUCTION

Your body has a trail of signs and marks that tell of the story of you.

The human body does nothing randomly. Everything it does it does for a good reason. Actions result in reactions. Creating situations creates probabilities. Just as the whole of the universe is subject to the laws of Newtonian and quantum physics, so is the human body. The body is a little universe unto itself, an individual ecosystem that has its personal set of norms and ideals. Each body, each human universe, is affected by and, in turn, affects the environment in which it finds itself. If it is a good adaptor, it survives and thrives. If it is not a good adaptor, it will suffer. At all times, it tries its best. Sometimes these trials result in injuries or illnesses that the body either cannot completely recover from or recovers from with great sacrifice. These attempts leave their mark upon the body just as storms leave their mark upon a landscape. A scar here, a mole there, a preference or dislike for certain flavors or foods are all clues—clues to the history of that body. These clues indicate how that body is adapting to its environment. None of these signs is random. None of these marks is an accident. Illness is not bad luck. Injury is not an accident. Everything occurs for a reason. Everything occurs as a result of previous actions. The probability of illness or injury is calculable and therefore relatively preventable.

God does not play dice with the universe and health is not an accident.

Just as health is not an accident, neither is disease. We do not always know the causes but we can tell, by the chemical and physical trails in the body, which organ is weak, which organ is fighting, and what the body is asking its owner to do to help. It asks with cues and signs and symptoms. Much of this knowledge was once possessed by the average person—learned at the knee of one’s mother, absorbed by osmosis from the environment in which one grew up. Different healing traditions use different methods of analysis, diagnosis, and healing. When done well, they all work well. Many patients do not care which medical political party the doctor belongs to. They wish only to be relieved of suffering.

Most patients want to get well. Most patients want to know why they got sick. And most patients want to know what they can do to not get sick again. It is for these patients that this book is written.

Your body is designed to give you optimal health throughout a long life. It is programmed to be committed to your health. Part of that design is a communications system. That system connects the various functions and organs of the body with the outside world. Most of this system communicates under your level of consciousness. However, when necessary, it is designed to let you know in both subtle and not-so-subtle ways when and how to change your behavior—if you wish to remain alive and healthy. This communication system is necessary for you to adapt to the world you live in. Good adaptation = good health.

Living has some requirements. A car requires fuel, an engine, and an exhaust system to operate. Life requires all living systems to intake fuel, to absorb and utilize it for operations and repair, and to excrete waste. How well we do these three actions determines how well our bodies operate. Your body is working 24/7 to keep these three functions in tip-top shape. That requires a lot of communication between your organs and you. We will cover the various communication methods your body uses to talk to you. This body talk is what directs your actions and choices. These choices are influenced by your age, gender, genetics, and geographic location. They will affect your body’s ability to satisfy the demands of your internal organs at any given moment. Each choice, each action we take either optimizes our ability to adapt or damages our ability to adapt to those internal and external demands.

The better we adapt, the healthier we are.

As you read this book, do not rush. Slow down and think about the principles and information presented. It is my hope that you will begin to recognize your own abilities to heal yourself and your loved ones. We are all born with these abilities. Recognizing them is step one to empowering yourself in your own health care. Regardless of whether you are trying to improve your own health habits or trying to optimize the treatment of a disease, bring your awareness of your body’s cues to the forefront.

Always, always keep in mind WHY you are trying to get healthy and WHAT healthy means to you.

("I want to be able to run with my little girl again." or "I want to have energy.")

A FEW THINGS TO REMEMBER

Doctors cannot give a patient the desire to get well.

Doctors cannot instill the discipline necessary to do the work of getting and staying well.

Doctors can perform treatments.

Doctors can teach.

The word doctor means teacher. Use your doctor as a resource and ask questions. Offer your own analysis. Patients are often correct regarding what the problem is and what caused it.

If you are ill: I do not recommend reading health books when you are ill. Your body requires all of your energy to be directed toward healing and not diverted into analysis of technical data. If you are ill, we recommend that you surround yourself with beauty, peace, and inspiration. Read inspirational and humorous books. Let those who are caring for you read the health books.

If you are relatively healthy: By all means, read whatever you can get your hands on. Knowledge will free and empower you, but read wisely and with a grain of salt. Be aware that all authors write from their point of view and from their experience. This is very important. A doctor treating colitis in a Midwestern urban area with a practice consisting of Swedish- or Norwegian-Americans may get great results using very different techniques from a doctor getting great results treating colitis in a southern farming district with a practice consisting of Asian- or African-Americans. Geography, culture, genetics, and pollution all play a crucial role in how a disease manifests and how it is best treated.

Whatever you choose to do to become healthy, use common sense, pace yourself, and be sure to have the Twelve Elixirs (see part III) in place. Above all—

do not let the pursuit of health become more

of a stress than the disease you already have.

WHAT CAUSES ILLNESS?

Illness is the result of malfunctioning organs. An imbalance in an organ will lead to disease. The malfunction occurs first, leaving the body’s many defenses compromised and vulnerable to infection, injury, genetic mutation, and inflammation.

Whether your concern is keeping your healthy body healthy or healing an illness in your body, the "treatment goal" is the same: optimal organ function. Whether you have this or that diagnosis or a supremely healthy body, keeping your health and eliminating disease from your body requires—requires—requires—that all your organ systems function optimally.

In some schools of healing, most attention is paid to eradicating the tumor or the inflammation or some other symptom The question I beg of you to ask is "WHY?" Why is there a tumor? Why is there inflammation? Humanity would not have survived as long as it has if people had not figured out the answers to these questions (posed quite differently, of course, through the ages). Tumors do not appear for no reason. There are causes for that appearance. Cutting out a tumor does not change by one whit the metabolic processes that created it in the first place. They continue. Removing a breast may mean that you will not get breast cancer, but cancer is very resourceful. It will find another tissue in which to grow. If all organ systems are functioning as they should, there will be no tumor. There will be no inflammation.

Always ask "why" until you come to the source. The source will always be an organ tissue and/or a mental state (the mind here is also an organ system). Let us say, for example, you come home and find a puddle of water on the kitchen floor. Why is there a puddle on the kitchen floor? Because it is dripping from the ceiling. Why is it dripping from the ceiling? Because it is pooling above the ceiling. Why is the water pooling in the ceiling? Because it is dripping through the roof. Why is it dripping through the roof? Because the roof has a hole. Why does the roof have a hole? Because it has not been maintained. One could just mop the floor up every day (symptomatic treatment). Or one could put a bucket under the drip (symptomatic treatment). Or one could seal the kitchen ceiling, causing the water to eventually find another place to leak from (symptomatic treatment). Or one could fix and maintain the roof (fix the cause). Each organ of the house needs to be working properly for there to not be a puddle on the kitchen floor.

If you have a cancerous growth or an infection, it is the result of organs that have not been maintained. Your organs do not turn on cancerous-tissue cell proliferation for the fun of it. They do not succumb to infection because they want to. It is no accident. It is not bad luck. The cells are responding to something. Your body has many layers of defenses. You need not know what those layers are nor what the possible irritants may be. What you DO need to know is what your body needs to keep its defenses functioning optimally. That is what protects your cells from choosing to proliferate improperly or inflame. Each organ system has its requirements for optimal defensive functioning. Look to your genetic heritage and pair that with where you live. Consider your work and your emotional demands. Adjust for your particular circumstances. If you maintain your organs you will not get sick. Period.

HOW GETTING WELL WORKS

Overcoming disease or injury is both complex and elegantly simple. What our bodies do is complex. What we need to do is simple. Most of what we need to do is covered in part III of this book. Our bodies are designed to heal themselves given the opportunity. You, the owner, are charged with providing those opportunities. The doctor can do some things for you. The doctor can also educate you, but ultimately, it is you who has to live in your body. Your body is your car. The mechanic can do some things. The mechanic can also educate you, but ultimately you drive your car. You need to do the upkeep to keep it rolling along smoothly and for a long time. Getting well is rarely a linear event. There are pauses and corrections that necessarily have to take place along the way, most of the time. That is OK. That is how your body best heals. As we shall see in chapters 2 and 3, patience and awareness of your body’s cues is important. Becoming symptom free is goal one. However, symptom free does not necessarily mean healthy. It is common for patients to quit doing reparative and healing activities when their symptoms disappear. If your disease is an iceberg, then a symptom is like the tip of an iceberg. Once the symptom sinks back below the surface, that does not mean that the entire iceberg has disappeared. Your body still has a lot of healing to do even after symptoms disappear. In the first days or weeks after symptoms disappear, you are still going to be vulnerable to setbacks if you do something inappropriate for your health. As time goes on and your reserve of nutrients increases, your toughness and adaptability will increase. You will be able to handle stress—chemical, emotional, or structural—much more easily. The process of getting well takes place while you are still sick. Respecting your body’s vulnerability is the least you can do to help it along. Learning how to be sick is as important as learning how to not get sick.

Being healthy is primarily our own responsibility. If we are not well, it is our own fault—to at least some degree. It may be our own fault through ignorance or through willful neglect. When the body cannot heal itself, it is only because we have done something that interfered with the body’s ability to do so. If you mistreat your body and expect it to heal itself, you will be disappointed. Helping you figure out what you need to do for your own body to optimize its self-healing abilities is my goal. That is what I call self-care. We learn self-care first from our mothers.

MOTHERS

By far the largest group of health care providers throughout history has been mothers. In the past, good health was the responsibility of each individual (being trained by his mother). Mothers are the largest health care provider group in the world. They always have been. Unfortunately, in many societies, changing social conditions led to their wisdom being belittled and finally discarded. Yet nobody knows you like your own mother. She is a formidable source of invaluable information, information that can quickly help the doctor help you. In recent history, mothers have often been taught to ignore and not value their role in disease prevention and cure. That is one of humanity’s greatest tragedies.

Aside from your mother, doctors, and yourself, do include the many other healing disciplines available—including massage therapy, qigong, yoga, water therapy, nutrition therapy, and herbal therapy—in your pursuit and maintenance of health.

HELPING FAMILY MEMBERS

One can lead a horse to water, but one cannot make it drink. Never force a family member into a particular treatment that you may think is best (there are a few exceptions to this suggestion). It is the patient who is sick, not you. Stress is what causes disease in the first place. Do not create more stress for the patient, please. Usually family members know how to best encourage a patient to action or change. Some patients need strong prodding. Some need only the mildest of suggestions. All patients need to be supported. Regardless of the choice of treatment a patient chooses, he will do best by being wholly supported. Some methods of healing are more effective than others, depending on the patient and circumstances. Some methods of healing are less toxic short or long term to the patient. Some methods of healing are toxic to the environment and thereby deleterious to the health of succeeding generations. These are things we need to think about even as our current generations deal with the toxic legacies of our predecessors.

A NOTE TO CAREGIVERS

A note to anyone who has ever tried to help a loved one recover from illness or injury:

• You know the patient better than the doctor. You know what makes him happy and relaxed.

• More than anything else, try to create an environment that nurtures those things. It is when we are relaxed and happy that our body produces its most potent healing chemicals from within our own body.

• As a caregiver, it is best that you, not the patient, do the research, reading, and organizing. The patient’s focus should be on their passion. The patient’s focus should not be on the disease.

• The most potent cures are often the simplest.

ONCE YOU ARE WELL … do what you love to do and

. . . LOOK BEYOND THE PRESENT DAY.

When we are ill our sole focus is our own current health problem, as it should be. However, once we are well, we would do well to recognize that it is difficult, if not impossible, to become healthy and stay healthy apart from the rest of the world we live in. Our health is affected by the air we breathe. This air is often polluted by industries which may or may not have the political permission to do so. Our health is affected by the water we drink, bathe in, and cook with. This water from our faucets is affected by those living upstream of us. We must not forget that everything you and your neighbors flush down the toilet or sink ends up in our water supply. Water treatment facilities do not remove pharmaceuticals, fertilizer residues, radiation, or the thousands of chemicals we dump into our waters. Our health is affected by the food that we eat. The agricultural-industrial complex needs better oversight to keep our food nutritious and safe. Air, water, and food industries are regulated by our government. We are our government. Government is us. We must become involved, not only for our own health but also for the sake of those who are to come, as they will be the ones caring for us in our old age. Become involved. Nations are only as healthy as their individual citizens.

ABOUT TERMS USED IN THIS BOOK

Doctor

I have chosen to use the term "doctor" for any health care provider (i.e., a qualified practitioner of the healing arts). This denotes someone who can provide all that is necessary to bring about a cure or at least an acceptable amelioration of the condition. This may include, among others, a doctor of chiropractic, a naturopath, an acupuncturist, a doctor of oriental medicine, an osteopath, a homeopath, a shaman, a massage therapist, a health counselor, a good neighbor, even a holisitic medical doctor. The word "doctor" means teacher.

Lifestyle

I will frequently refer to the term lifestyle. This is what I mean by the term lifestyle: the manner in which one lives, which includes

• physical activity (including exercise = physical tone),

• chemical status (including food, drink, and surroundings), and

• mental status (including the emotions, mental clarity, and spirituality).

The manner in which you choose to live determines your health. Initially, we adopt the lifestyle of our parents and culture. As an adult you have the freedom to alter it. The three parts of your lifestyle—physical, chemical, and mental—affect and are affected by each other.

1. Physical activity can and does affect your chemical state by producing good chemicals and flushing out harmful ones. Physical activity can and does affect your mental state for the same reason. A physically inactive person is allowing normal day-to-day waste products to build up in the body. Organs become sluggish without their required physical stimulation. We are designed to move. Depending on where the metabolic sluggishness occurs, one can suffer from everything from cancer to constipation to anxiety.

2. Chemical intake—either good or bad—can and does affect your bones and muscles and other tissues/organs. This then affects your physical abilities and your mental state. A person addicted to sugar may become magnesium deficient and suffer anxiety. The same deficiency depletes him of energy and the will to exercise.

3. Mental state can and does affect your chemical state by directing what you choose to consume and what you do physically. A person severely depressed by the death of a loved one may become bed bound, refusing to move. This leads to organ sluggishness which leads to the production of chemicals that negatively affect the emotional centers of the brain, perpetuating the depression.

A healthy lifestyle is one that provides for optimal functioning of your physical, chemical, and mental self.

Organ and Organ Systems

There is much mention of various organs and organ systems. In the context of this book, an "organ" may refer to a liver, heart, or intestine, for example. An "organ system" includes an organ plus all of its relationships with other organs and organ systems. For example, the lung is an organ we are all familiar with. The lung system would include not only the lung but the entire respiratory system—throat, nose, and sinuses. It also would include the associated emotion of grief, the associated tissue of body hair, and the associated organ of the large intestine. See appendix L for additional organ system and association information. I also refer to suboptimal organ function, (i.e., diseased, sick, malfunctioning organs). These are organs that are not functioning well and are consequently contributing to ill health. A suboptimally functioning organ may still have normal laboratory test results. As laboratory and technological tests continue to evolve, their sensitivity and accuracy improves. Today we may not have a test that detects a particular disease in its very early stages. That does not mean that the disease is not present. Current tests only detect disease once it has progressed to a point that the technology can recognize it. As technology evolves, we receive ever increasingly objective data to support the ancient traditional methods of diagnosis. In the interim, modern and traditional diagnostic methods fill in the existing gaps. For example, until the invention of x-ray, lung cancer was often missed or misdiagnosed until it was far advanced, yet ancient diagnostic traditions were able to identify it much earlier. Patients often present with symptoms of ill health yet show no abnormal laboratory results. Ancient methods of diagnosis are still more sensitive (in competent hands) than many modern medical tests. Chinese medicine, chiropractic, applied kinesiology, pulse diagnosis, and reflex diagnosis, among others, can shed great diagnostic light on which organ system is not functioning. This is especially helpful in those cases of disease where standard laboratory tests are inconclusive or negative. Instead of waiting and watching if normal tests will change in a suffering patient, therapeutic measures can be initiated that can ultimately save the patient’s life.

Suboptimal organ function is associated with poor health. It may or may not be identifiable by current laboratory methods.

Qi

Qi is a term used in oriental medicine and defined in appendix A.

He

I have chosen to use the generic pronoun he throughout most of the book in reference to all gender members of homo sapiens. However, do be aware that we all start out in the womb as females. It is only at about the ninth week of life in utero that the men get separated from the women.

AND SO …

Each of us is a reminder of the simplicity and complexity of the human condition. Our chemistry, physiology, and emotions are reflected in our physical structure and outward appearance. We are all as different internally as we are externally, and we are as similar internally as we are externally.

Please read, enjoy, absorb, discard, smile, be still, and know that you are the doctor.

All good medicine,

Dr. R.

PS

If you have a health problem, I highly recommend that you read all of part II or at least through chapter 15. Most health problems are the result of what occurs in early life. Reading through this material may shed some light on your particular illness. Circumstances of your early life are also crucial information for your doctor.

Disclaimer

This book is to be used as an addendum to the many other natural health care books available to the public. This information is for historical and educational purposes only. If you have a health problem, please see an experienced doctor. The methods and principles mentioned herein have withstood the test of time. They have been used effectively by humans for hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of years. If you choose to use any of the methods described, you thereby agree to do so with a modicum of common sense and to take all responsibility for your actions.

PART I

PRINCIPLES OF HEALTH AND HEALING

Introduction

Basic principles are those that affect our health under most all conditions. They are influenced by our genetics, gender, geographic location, and stage of life. Our ancestral grandmothers and grandfathers lived by well-worn rules of healthy living.¹ These principles have been handed down for millennia. They are not lost. They are simple. They have stood the test of time. Current science supports much ancestral wisdom. For example, a basic principle of good health is to maintain a proper weight. Historically, there are no healthy obese cultures. These principles are within easy reach of anyone and can once again be handed down, family to family.

GENETICS, GENDER, GEOGRAPHY, AND STAGE OF LIFE

Genetics, gender, geography, and stage of life, are the physical guiding factors of your health. They are the major influencers of your health at all times, from birth until death. These factors are always present. They always affect your health and cannot be ignored, regardless of your current state of health or your manner of health care. These are the physical characteristics of you and your environment.

The Principle of Genetics

This is your biochemical heritage. These are the genes you inherit from your ancestors. You have some wiggle room in terms of control. Genes can be turned on and off.

The Principle of Gender

Gender is a continuum. Where you fall on that continuum will determine how you adapt to various stages of your life and how you respond to your environment.

The Principle of Geography

This is the environment—climate and terrain—of the physical location in which your body lives. We have some control over the environment but not generally so. Where you choose to live and how you choose to adapt to your location is under your control, usually.

The Principle of Stage of Life

Your body operates according to certain patterns and rules. Knowing and respecting them is critical for good health. The basics are covered in part II. The stages of life include the developmental phases of your life. Different ages and different gender requirements require different maintenance. Your physiology is largely determined genetically, but you (or your caretakers) have great control over how well you go through any stage (infancy, childhood, puberty, menopause, middle age, old age).

INTENT, CONNECTIVITY, AND SELF-HEALING

Understanding the role of intent and connectivity is also an important aspect of healing.

The Principle of Intent (Purpose)

This refers to your basic outlook and path in life. For optimal health, your primary focus should not be health. Your passion in life—your purpose—should be your primary intent. Health is a byproduct of doing what you love. This is because you were put here to live a life of joy. Your body is your faithful servant. It will do whatever you ask of it, if it can. It is programmed to help you do what makes you happiest. Your body follows your mind.

One’s purpose regarding one’s health is presumably to get and stay well so that one may be able to do what one loves to do. This may seem obvious, but it is surprisingly not always a primary concern of sick people. Often the primary concern is the next best treatment. This then requires that you be sick, otherwise there is no need of treatment. The body, as usual, will oblige you and provide a new illness if seeking treatment is what you desire. Please think about this.

The Principle of Connectivity

This refers to the relationships between our various internal organs. This also refers to the relationship of our body to the environment it is in—physical, social, emotional, chemical, and electromagnetic.

The body is exquisitely interconnected. Nothing exists without a connection to every other part of the body. Each basic health principle affects and is affected by every other. Genetics affects our ability to tolerate certain climates, eat certain foods, engage in certain work. The climate we live in affects our body’s metabolism. Our mental purpose in life affects our body chemistry. Our body chemistry affects our physical structure. As wonderful as our specialized knowledge of each organ system is, unless it is applied with deference to how each organ system affects (and is affected by) every other organ system, such knowledge does not serve us as beneficially as it could.

There is no human condition that exists apart from every other part of the body. A heart condition will always involve most other parts of the body, either causatively or influentially. A heart arrhythmia may be due to kidney weakness, but it may also cause lung or bowel dysfunction or low back pain. A patient complaining of low back pain may have a heart condition for which the only symptom is low back pain. Looking at the body solely through one lens is dangerous. All of your organs are working together; they all affect each other. If all are working together and in balance, you enjoy good health. If your organ systems are not working well, if they are not communicating with one another properly, then disease results. Imagine if you had one hundred different government agencies working in security with none of them talking to each other. Under such conditions, it would be very easy for a bacterial terrorist to sneak in, set up housekeeping, and wait for the most opportune time to strike. Communication within the body is critical for health.

Your body is like a wagon being pulled by a team of horses. The horses are your organs. You are the driver. If you have one horse pulling this direction, another pulling in an opposite direction, and still another lying down doing nothing, your wagon will have difficulty moving forward. In fact, it may eventually get pulled apart and tip over. In health—your horses are trotting together in a coordinated and spritely manner. Oftentimes, all that is needed is to fix the lead horse and the rest usually will follow (though some may need a little coaxing, too). This is important to remember if you have a long list of symptoms and a long list of involved organs. A good doctor understands the health of each horse (each organ) and how all are supposed to work together.

The Principle of Self-Healing

Your body is designed to heal itself. However, it cannot do so if you (the owner) do not provide the raw materials out of which to make repairs and maintain proper operations, or if you interfere with those operations. Raw materials include air, water, and food. Interferences include toxins, lack of sleep, and lack of exercise.

The body does nothing randomly. Evolution favors efficiency. Your body does nothing randomly. Everything occurs for a very good reason. Ignoring your body’s warnings is not conducive to good health.

MAKING HEALTH AND LIFE DECISIONS

Any decision you make about where you live, whom you live and work with, what you do for a living, what you eat, and what you drink will affect your health. When making any major decisions, please consider these seven principles. For example, when choosing to take a job, consider

1. genetics—are you physically suited for the job you wish to do?

2. gender—is this an issue?

3. geography—climate, including pollution—can you handle it?

4. stage of life—is the job appropriate for your age and physical condition?

5. purpose—does your decision make you happy?

6. connectivity—how will your decision affect you, your family, your community, and future generations?

7. self-healing—does the environment suit your body’s ability to be healthy?

If you are ill, consider the effect any of the given principles may have had on your current state of health.

If you are working with a variety of specialists, be sure you have one doctor who specializes in how all the systems work together. What is such a doctor called? A general practitioner. Your best bet these days is either a doctor of chiropractic, a naturopath, or a doctor of oriental medicine. The tradition of understanding how all the parts work together is still strong in these professions.

Does one actually have to consciously think through all this with every little decision? Of course not, that is, if you are healthy. Healthy people do the right thing subconsciously, automatically. If you are ill, then, yes, you do have to do some conscious thinking and changing if you want to become healthy. If you have never been healthy, fear not! Sometimes folks become the healthiest they have ever been later in life—simply by understanding these principles and incorporating the twelve elixirs (see part III) into their lives.

All good medicine,

Dr. R.

Chapter 1

No One Knows You Better Than You Do

Regaining or maintaining good health requires knowledge of the person in question (that would be you). You live with yourself day in, day out. From your first moments of consciousness in the womb to your last moments of consciousness on your deathbed, you are with yourself 24/7. No one knows you better than you do. No one. Your spouse, parents, children, siblings, friends, and doctor all know some things about you, but no one knows you like you do. Please think about this.

The knowledge that we have of ourselves is both conscious and subconscious. You know that certain things make you feel good and other things make you feel bad. For example, you may know that if you have a glass of warm buttermilk at night, you will sleep like a baby until morning. Or you may know that if you have a glass of warm milk at night, you will be up all night with horrible stomach cramps and diarrhea. You may be the only one who knows that you work better with your legs crossed and head tilted to the right.

You know which clothes you feel good in. You know which activities energize you and which relax you. You know what sort of people you enjoy being with and what sort of people you would rather avoid. You know that windy days make you feel good and rainy days not so good, or vice versa. You know which colors cheer you up and which ones make you grimace. You know your food cravings and your food aversions. You know which foods make you feel good. You know if you are happier at work or at home. You know what season is your favorite and what season leaves you sick with colds or allergies year in, year out. None of these factors about you is random. Your body does not do anything randomly. These factors all make up a pattern—your pattern. This is your pattern of how you adapt to your environment.

When it comes to getting well, these factors are extremely important. They tell us what the probable involved organ systems are—which ones are weak and which ones are strong. For example, if windy weather affects you, we are going to look at the health of your liver system. These factors also serve as indicators of change. As your internal metabolic patterns change in response to changes you make in your life, these factors also change. You may become tolerant of dairy or wheat foods when once you were not. You may find yourself more tolerant of people who used to irk you. You may find that your allergies and colds no longer make an appearance every spring and fall.

Then there are those things that you are not consciously aware of. Ask family members or roommates about what they notice about you, things you may not be aware of: You bite your nails when you are stressed. You drink tomato juice when you are tired. You snore. You always have terrible, smelly bowel movements in the morning. Who me? Yes, you. You may be accustomed to the smell, and your roommates may be too polite to say anything, but haven’t you noticed how they clear out of the room after you use the bathroom? (Smelly bowel movements that chase everyone away are not normal. They indicate a problem that needs to be dealt with if you wish to avoid more serious disease.) Even if you are unaware of your idiosyncrasies, your roommates may be very aware of them. Ask.

Strong Cravings and Aversions Are Great Clues

Understanding these behavioral clues will help you take charge of your own healing (see appendix L Organ Maintenance).

• Weather—What weather do you like? What weather do you dislike?

• Climate—Do you like cold, dry, humid, etc. climates?

• Color—Which colors are you attracted to? Yellow?—think spleen system. Which do you dislike?

• Foods—What are your favorite foods? Least liked foods? Hate beets?—think liver.

• Flavors—Do you like salty or sweet, bitter or pungent? Like salt?—think kidney system.

• Emotion—Which emotion best describes you: fearful, brave, irritable, etc. ?

• Feature—What is your best? Which is your worst?

Communicating with Your Doctor

Sharing what you know about yourself helps your doctor help you. Everything you notice about yourself can be an important clue for your doctor. It is part of the information that helps direct examinations, provide diagnoses, and plan effective treatment programs. The more your doctor knows about you the better he can do his job. Your job is to tell your doctor those things which you are consciously aware of and those which your friends or family say you do unconsciously. Your doctor will add that data to what he picks up from listening to you, observing you, and examining you.

All of Your History Counts

It is all important. Every part of your body is connected with every other part of your body. No part of you exists in a vacuum specialty. The medications, supplements, and foods that you consume never affect one thing. They affect the whole thing. All of you. Like dropping a pebble into a pond—the ripples cover the entire pond even though the pebble falls at one spot. A good diagnostician will want to know everything: old and new history, old and new medications, and treatments.

You are a book. Your health history is written all over you. It is written in your cues, signs, and symptoms. It can be seen in your face; your skin; your posture; your voice; your likes and dislikes; your hair; your nails; your demeanor; your pulse; your blood, urine, and feces; your scans; and your tests. The more the doctor knows, the clearer the picture of your problem and the greater the probability that a quick amelioration or cure can be found.

That also means that it is OK to say that your stomach aches every evening even though the doctor says the tests are all normal and that your stomach is fine. Tests are limited. They have a certain sensitivity beyond which they cannot pick up any abnormalities. Just because a laboratory test says everything is within normal doesn’t mean everything is normal with you. All it means is that the tests are not sensitive or specific enough to find your imbalance. This is where Chinese, Ayurvedic, and chiropractic diagnostic methods come out ahead of standard medicine. Withholding information because you think it may not be relevant to your main complaint often results in poor or slow results.

THE CASE OF THE BUTTERED BRIDE

Take the case of the woman with severe hormonal problems. The condition was not resolving as the doctor expected it should. The patient’s husband offered up the following tidbit, She eats a pound of butter a week. This information had been omitted even though what she was eating was discussed at every visit. Butter is a great food, but it is a difficult fat to digest. In sedentary patients and in patients with compromised liver systems, it is not a recommended food, as both of those states make it difficult for the body to metabolize fats. Hormones are fats. The liver metabolizes hormones. Too much saturated fat in the diet of a sedentary person can severely compromise the liver’s ability to metabolize fat and hormones.

THE CASE OF THE RED-VEGETABLE LEAGUE

Middle-aged Patient X came in complaining of chronic low back pain (she pointed to her right buttock). She saw her chiropractor one to two times a month for the pain. My question to her was: What are you doing one to two times per month that brings on the pain? Answer: Nothing. The body does not play games. The pain was occurring for a reason. She was not engaged in any hard physical labor that might be straining her back. She was not engaged in a sedentary lifestyle that could have weakened her back. She was not falling down twice a month injuring her back. (Any of those scenarios could have been permanently corrected with a chiropractic adjustment to realign the back and with either ergonomic work changes, increased exercise, or more caution to prevent injuries.) Her history and examination revealed a liver-system imbalance. Checking for food sensitivities revealed a sensitivity to tomatoes, specifically, and the nightshade family in general. These foods were so ingrained into her snacking and meals that they did not make it into her diet diary!? There was an entire league of tomato products in her diet: tomato juice for breakfast, spaghetti sauces at lunch, tomatoes in salad or pizza for supper. Removing these foods from her diet cleared up her pain permanently. Repairing her liver made it possible for her to eat tomatoes again without the resultant back pain.

Please be thorough and complete in your diet diaries!

What Is Making You Miserable?

When providing information about yourself, stick to your symptoms (e.g., I get headaches on windy days.). Patients often reply with a diagnosis when asked what they are coming in for. For example, I have arthritis, or I have MS, or I have colitis, or I have allergies. A diagnosis does not tell the doctor or you what you suffer from or what it is that makes your life so miserable that you need to see a doctor. It does not tell us what your malady is preventing you from doing. What I would like to know is what is it that your malady prevents you from doing. What is it that bothers you? "I cannot swing the golf club because of my shoulder pain. I cannot open jars because my thumbs hurt. I cannot walk on my own most days. I have numbness and weakness that makes it impossible for me to type. I am so tired that I cannot do anything, and that is depressing me and frustrating me. I have bloody diarrhea, which is painful and exhausting, and I can’t leave the house. I have cramps that interfere with my ability to do my job. My knees hurt so that I cannot run to keep up with my two-year-old daughter, and I fear I may not be able to stop her from running into the street. My eyes itch every time I work with horses."

Whatever the problem, first ask yourself what it is that makes you feel so miserable (e.g., I cannot golf without pain.). That is what we want to fix, yes?

Your symptoms are what make life miserable. They are what cause your suffering. Only you know what they are. You are the one feeling them. You are the one who wants to be free of them. You want to be able to do your work fully and without pain. Most patients see doctors for relief of suffering. Let the doctor know what your suffering is.

Getting well means being able to do those things you want to be doing, but presently cannot.

THE CASE OF THE DEPRESSED YOGINI

A woman came in complaining of a bad bout of depression. This is what she reported: "Four days before I fell into this depression, I did a two-day intensive yoga course. I was anxious a lot because I was helping to run it. I did not eat much the entire time. I had a metallic taste in my mouth and I felt like a heavy cloud was sitting on my head. It also happened just before my period, which did not come."

This information is important in that it clearly gives the doctor an idea as to what actually brought the depression on. Depression involves brain chemistry. Brain chemistry is affected/controlled by the liver, spleen, kidney and heart systems. The spleen affects thinking, especially obsessive thinking, and it is not fond of any overdoing of any kind. This was my assessment:

• Two-day intensive exercise—exhausted all organs, including liver, kidneys, and spleen.

• Nervous tension from responsibility of helping to run the program—kidneys/adrenals

• Lack of nutrition—stress on all organs

• Metallic taste—possibly liver

• Sense of heaviness in head—possibly liver

• Missed her period—possible low reserves of nutrients, body could not handle everything it was being asked to do: liver, kidneys and/or spleen.

The intensive exercise under the conditions of inadequate food, nervous tension, and the body’s need to produce a period proved too great a demand upon her body. Had she had adequate nutrient reserves in her body, she may have been fine, but she did not. Hence, she suffered both during the course and afterward. Her body required rest, rebuilding, and replenishing of reserves. Whenever we make greater demands on our body than it has fuel for, we will tend to suffer. Common sense tells us she overdid it and did not know how to recover from this overdoing event.

Depression does not exist as a separate entity. It is always, always secondary to intense physical and chemical changes in the body. These changes can come about for reasons of emotional stress, chemical stress, or physical stress. This patient had emotional stress (responsibility anxiety), chemical stress (inadequate food), and physical stress (intense yoga exercise). Treating depression (or any other problem) without addressing those underlying causes only sets one up for more problems. Unless you change lifestyle, the organ systems will continue to degenerate.

What would have happened if the only information she offered was that she was depressed? What if the doctor had not retrieved the history from her?

You can also help the doctor immensely by offering your view as to why you think you acquired the problem you have and what you would like to see happen. For example, I wake up every morning temporarily blind in one eye. This has been going on and off for a year. I think it may be related to a skull fracture to the back of my head about eighteen months ago. I would like my sight back. Health problems do not come out of the blue. Finding the causes to problems requires knowing what preceded the problem. Only you know that. Never allow the absence of a medical vocabulary preclude you from communicating your health history and concerns clearly. Use whatever adjectives, verbs, nouns, and adverbs that make sense to you. Feels like …, sounds like …, tastes like …, or it started after … A good doctor will easily understand.

THE CASE OF THE BLIND NURSE

Patient X was a nurse anesthetist at a major hospital. She began experiencing transient blindness in one eye every morning. Her doctors told her that she would eventually go blind, and she was referred to a center for the blind to begin training for the skills she would need. Patient X felt she knew what the cause might be. She relayed to all of her doctors that some months before this began, she had had a skiing accident and had suffered a fracture to the back of her skull. Anyone who has studied biology will remember that the back of the skull is where the brain processes much of the information from the eyes. A bang on the head strong enough to cause a bone fracture might certainly be strong enough to cause a concussion to the brain in that skull. She felt that from the first, but none of her doctors would even consider that the skull fracture had anything to do with her transient blindness. Their prognosis was that the periods of blindness would continue to increase until she was permanently blind. By the time she came to me, she was not only legally blind in one eye but she was also having transient blindness in her good eye. When patients’ personal opinions are treated condescendingly by doctors, patients will tend to stop offering them. In our initial consultation she made no mention of the trauma to the head until I asked her if there had been such an event. She then poured out her story. During the initial examination, I noticed that her skull was malpositioned. I had her tilt her head back in a manner that would posturally correct for the malposition of the skull. Within seconds of standing in this position she noticed her sight improve. With chiropractic treatment to her neck and skull, and supportive nutrition, she regained sight in her good eye and was regaining sight in her blind eye by the time she was discharged.

Always speak your mind when you visit your doctor.

TO REVIEW

1. No one knows you better than you do.²

2. What you know about yourself is what you need to help yourself live a healthy life.

3. This information is also what your doctor needs to help him help you.

4. See appendix L regarding organ maintenance and relationships.

5. Read chapter 3 for information on how to read your body.

When working with your doctor:

1. Do not doubt yourself.

2. Voice your opinions and questions to your doctor. If he discounts your concerns, find somebody else.

3. Think back on things that you did or avoided that resulted in improved or worsened health. Share this information with your doctor.

All good medicine,

Dr. R.

Chapter 2

Your Body Will Tell You What To Do

Your body is dedicated to your well-being. You are the keeper of your body. Your body communicates its needs to you. It is always sending you cues designed to direct your behavior toward health. It gives you those occasional gut feelings. It also directs you to spontaneous actions that serve to protect and heal your body.

These cues are not random. They occur in response to your demands upon your body. Your body may be talking