Rakesh Sethi, BS, CAHP
Wellness Speaker/ Author/
Ayurvedic Practitioner
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Connecticut Shooting: Sickness in Society Demands Solution
Did you feel the pain after the news of Connecticut shooting? Every time we hear news like this we suffer. How many times do we have to anguish through shooting incidents like this? I don’t have the answer. But we must stop this!
Being a father I feel so much grief. Today I want to talk about why it is happening? I want to talk about wellness in the society we live in. I would like to share some thoughts and would invite your thoughts.
My first thought- The society is a large living “organism” and you are a small extremity of it. If the society is sick that sickness impacts your wellness as well. More and more, especially the young, live in isolation disconnected from real human contact. Electronic devices, especially texting and social media, has minimized or almost eliminated human contact. No warm handshake, no face to face, not even hearing voice. It is like bunch of electrons communicating with each other. It seems as if a human is reduced to a robot with “user name”. A robot doesn’t have human sensitivity, compassion, and consciousness. Is this what we call progress for human beings? You decide
Second thought- Consciousness in our society is dwindling day by day. It is being replaced by greed in individuals and corporations alike. You are no longer judged by your character rather by possessions and bank account. I understand we are going through economic crisis. But I believe there’s a bigger crisis at hand, the consciousness crisis. In the last three decades we have moved towards measuring profitability in dollars so much so that we have forgotten about profitability in the human happiness and wellness. Society, corporations, and individuals are focused on the bottom line. It is a race to improve the bottom line while it is taking everyone to the bottom. For example, right after Pres. Obama’s reelection few corporations, and I won’t name them, took the stand almost immediately that they are going to either increase prices to cover for healthcare or lay off workers or reduce their hours, all to keep the profitability in dollars. Imagine if the corporations had sacrificed a little on bottom line and thought about profitability in terms of employee’s wellness. Such corporations would take a leadership role in exhibiting corporate consciousness in times of consciousness crisis.
I am opening this subject for discussion. With any crisis come opportunities. I would love for you to think of ideas and share here, with your friends, place of work, or with your congressman. If you have influence in any place where you can make a change, become a catalyst of change. Will Connecticut shooting be the shooting incident to change the course we are on, I don’t know? But one thing is for sure that there is consciousness crisis in our society today and yours, your families and friends wellness is at stake so what are you going to do about it.
5 Simple Ways to Get Rid of a Headache
Frequent headaches indicate your body is aching for help. Eliminate the cause, do not just mask by taking a quick fix pill. There are simple ways to get rid of a headache.
Common Causes of Headache
- Lack of water (dehydration)
- Lack of sleep
- Lack of downtime (mentally tired)
- High blood pressure (Hypertension/Stress)
- Indigestion/gas/bloating
- Nasal Congestion
Dehydration: Take two glasses (20 oz.) of warm water. You may not be drinking enough water. Read how much water should I take? Throughout the day you can take ginger tea. You can also take fruits rich in water content like water melon. KEEP YOURSELF HYDRATED.
If your body lacks sodium, even if you drink enough water, you will not retain it. Too much sodium is bad but you need healthy level to hold water. Take ¼ teaspoon rock salt, if you weigh less than 110 lbs or ½ teaspoon if you weigh more than 120 lbs. Let it dissolve on your tongue and wash it down with two glasses of water. Caution: do not take rock salt if you have high blood pressure.
Lack of Sleep: Take a hot glass of milk with teaspoon of ghee (clarified butter) and a pinch of ground cardamom just before going to bed for sound sleep. When you have headache during the day you may take a cup of hot milk with cardamom without ghee.
High Blood Pressure: Tension/stress can create high blood pressure temporarily. Breathing yoga exercising can lower the pressure. Read more on naturally lowering blooding pressure.
Indigestion: Include ½ teaspoon fresh finely chopped ginger in your meals. You may also take peppermint tea
Nasal Congestion: Congestion, sinus pressure can be released with Neti pot. Add a pinch of salt in warm water and use the Neti pot to flush nasal passages. This technique flushes the mucus blocking the breathing passage and releasing the sinus pressure to give relief.
By taking a pill for a headache you simply mask the symptom, the root cause is not address. The root of your problem will continue to accumulate and show up later in more serious disease.
You need to nip it in the bud. Using these simple ways to get rid of a headache, you will remove the real cause behind your headaches.
Ayurvedic Massage: What a Great Benefit!
Wouldn’t you like a massage that does more than just relaxation? Ayurvedic massage is a unique massage that offers incredible following benefits:
- Nourishes the mind and body
- Strengthens immunity
- Increases stamina
- Builds muscle tone
- Reduces stress
- Removes toxins (more effective when followed by exercising and sauna or steam bath)
- Slows down aging
- Calms mind and helps sleep better
- Balances and heals body faster
With so many benefits, wouldn’t it be nice to get an Ayurvedic massage every day. Well, it is recommended that you do it every day. However, with limited available time every other day will be fine too or even once a week will offer tremendous benefits. Imagine, that is fifty two times a year more than what you do right now.
Can you do this massage at home? Of course you can. In fact giving Ayurvedic massage to each other would be an excellent activity for a couple. In addition to the above benefits, you nourish your relationship as well.
What oil to use?
Ayurvedic Massage oil herbal formula for men and women
You can use sesame oil but to enhance the benefits of the ayurvedic daily massage use Ayurvedic Massage Oils. These precise blends of ayurvedic herbs and aromas are more easily absorbed by the skin than sesame oil or other regular massage oils, and as a result, rejuvenate your body quickly. You can purchase Rejuvenation Massage Oil for Men and Women in our online store.
How do you do Ayurvedic massage?
Follow the simple instructions below:
- Warm cold pressed three table spoons of oil (per person)
- Start with vigorous massage on the head with palm of your hand
- Using gentle strokes, massage the forehead, temples, ears, and face
- Massage the rest of your body arms, hands, legs, feet, back, and chest
- Massage stomach with gentle clockwise strokes
Note: To get more familiar with the Ayurvedic massage strokes, I would recommend receiving a massage a few times from an Ayurvedically trained massage therapist or Ayurvedic practitioner. But even if you don’t have a chance to learn from a trained therapist, you should continue on your own. The most important part is to supply the oil in a loving way.
Caution: No hard deep tissue strokes should be used. Remember gentle loving strokes promote calming effect on the mind. Do not do Ayurvedic massage if you are overweight, have fever, or bad digestion.
Give 20- 25 minutes time to absorb the oil to deeper layers of your skin. Use this time to do stretches, bending, twisting, or even gentle running. After oil nourishes to the deeper layers, sweating in sauna or steam bath is wonderful to detoxify your body. Stay in sauna till you are sweating, perhaps 10 minutes or so. After that take warm shower with mild soap and shampoo. Avoid using hot water and harsh soaps.
Portable Sauna
Note: If you do not have access to sauna, you can get one a portable sauna here. For full benefit of massage, use sauna after every massage.
One of my clients, a woman in her thirties had spotting after her periods around the ovulation time for over three years. After some tests, her doctor couldn’t find anything and recommended taking birth control pills to remove this problem. She didn’t want to take the pills with concern of possible side effects plus she was also trying to get pregnant. Just then she had started to do an Ayurvedic massage two times a week. After about eight weeks, she saw her spotting completely went away.
This real life example illustrates how Ayurvedic massage can strengthen, balance, and heal minor irritable problems in otherwise healthy body. Ayurvedic massage is a loving treatment for your mind and body. Enjoy it with your partner. Be Well!
Going Bananas? If Not, You Should
Next time when you reach for a candy bar or some other processed snack, reach for the world’s most incredible fruit. Not only you will get immediate boost in energy, but you will also prevent or help many conditions. This fruit perhaps is the least expensive and most widely available fruit. After you read this article, the phrase going bananas may have altogether different meaning. Do you have this fruit in your regimen?
Look at bananas astonishing benefits:
Stress Reducing:
When you are stressed, your breathing becomes shallow and metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing your oxygen and potassium levels. These can be rejuvenated with the help of a high-potassium banana snack. Potassium, a vital mineral in banana that helps normalize your heartbeat and breathing, sends oxygen to your brain, and thereby reduces your stress.
Gastritis/Heartburn/Ulcers:
Bananas produce anti-acid effect in the body. If you suffer from gastritis or heartburn, try eating a banana to feel soothing relief naturally. It neutralizes excess acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach. In fact because of its soft texture and smoothness, a banana is the only raw fruit you can consume as the dietary food during chronic intestinal disorders.
Blood Pressure Reducing:
Banana is extremely high in potassium but low in salt, adding it your diet is an excellent way to reduce blood pressure. Read another article reducing blood pressure naturally.
Mood Balancing:
Why take pills when you can eat a banana? In a recent survey people suffering from anxiety/depression felt much better after eating a banana. This is due to compound tryptophan found in banana, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to relax you, improve your mood and generally makes you feel happier. It works great during PMS.
Hangover Recovering:
One of the fastest ways you can recover from hangover is to drink a banana milkshake sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach, the honey rejuvenates depleted blood sugar levels, and the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.
Perfect Comfort Food Substitute:
Studies have shown pressure at work or at home lead you to binge on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Why, because pressure swings your blood-sugar levels that leads to panic-induced food cravings. This results in weight gain. Simply substitute banana as comfort food to control your panic-induced cravings.
Excellent Energy Source:
Before you reach for that expensive energy drink out of a can, try eating a banana. A banana provides an immediate, sustained and significant boost of energy. Unlike processed energy food, bananas are full of natural sugars along with fiber. Research shows that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world’s leading athletes.
Add banana a day in your regimen. Aren’t you an athlete in your game of life? Be Well!
How to Realize Benefits of Meditation in the Real World? Part 2
In part one of meditation article series, you discovered what is the true purpose of meditation. Here you will find out how to realize benefits of meditation in the real world. First we must understand how our body, mind, & intellect work. While body can do multiple tasks, the mind can only do one task at one time. When our mind gets involved in performing multiple tasks it gets tired easily & the quality of each action suffers. Which in turn leads to uncertainty, uncertainty leads to increase in anxiety, and anxious mind creates restlessness ultimately leading to stress.
Now this is where we realize the benefits of meditation practice. Just as in during meditation in room alone, we used our intellect to keep the mind on one & one thing alone, we do the same thing here. Our intellect must always keep strict observation over our mind & prevent the mind from wandering off into past or future and taking on multiple tasks. By staying focused on the one task at the present moment and completing it gives us great satisfaction; then completing five tasks with uncertainty in mind, which ultimately leads to do-over & stress. You must have heard of “living in the moment”. Well, my friends, this is how you live in the present moment. When we start to live like this, we practice meditation every living moment of our lives.
We discussed stress created due to mind involved in multiple tasks. Another source of stress is mind living in conflict. Often conflicts create a sea of emotions in the mind since people’s egos are involved. Therefore, here it becomes extremely important that intellect over sees action or actions that will resolve the conflict without creating any additional conflicts. Here again we realize the benefits of meditation. Using meditation technique, the intellect must use the mind as a field on which various different resolution action scenarios can be played out. While playing out these scenarios, intellect must keep emotions, egos and selfishness in check. The mind focuses on an action that resolves a conflict without creating any additional ones. This is a technique for conflict resolution and to avoid any potential conflicts.
So far we have been discussing “outward” benefits of meditation. If you are comfortable here, it is absolutely fine. But there are also an “inward” benefits of meditation. This inward journey is very subtle, must be taken seriously, and only after one is at peace with all external matters. Otherwise it is difficult to stay with it, and if one becomes frustrated, one should immediately step back from this type of meditation practice and take up again later at an appropriate time.
Imagine if You Tried These Simple Meditation Techniques
Imagine benefits of meditation if you were to start using meditation techniques in your everyday life situations. In one sentence your stress will decrease and success will increase. You will have more control over your life. You will avoid creating excessive stress from conflicts at home & at work, conflicts in relationships, and problems with health. Stress and mind in conflict can become a root cause of a disease. By practicing regularly and daily, you could avoid any future potential health problems and create true wellness.
A mind living in conflict cannot meditate. How can you know peace without meditation? How can you know joy without peace? So if your goal is to live in peace and experience joy in your life, you must give these techniques a serious try.
Summary
In nut shell, we practice meditation in our part time only to put meditation into practice full time all day to realize benefits of meditation in all of our other affairs.
If you liked the benefits of this article then the biggest compliment you can give is by sharing its benefits with others.
Be Well!
Rakesh Sethi
Share your comments, thoughts and suggestions below. I appreciate your time & will take the time to read every single one!
What is the Closest Thing to the Fountain of Youth?
If someone asks me what is the one thing that I would recommend that as the maximum impact on promoting health and preventing the sickness, it would have to be physical activity. Exercise is the closest thing we have to the fountain of youth! Over the last century, we have invented hundreds of machines and tools to make us more and more sedentary. But the fact remains that the human body is made to spend most of his waking hours in the upright position, moving fifteen to twenty miles a day. Yes, you read it correct. (much more than the recommended 10,000 steps a pedometer might count).
On average, a person hardly walks about one mile in a day. Today many search for fountain of youth in artificial means and supplements. The truth is there are none. (Read more in Aging Gracefully) Although physical activity in and of itself is not enough to help one lose weight, it is certainly an integral part of a weight management and more importantly, a health management program. When combined with prudent diet (low in sugar, simple carbohydrates, corn syrup saturated fat and trans fat and also low in salt), regular physical activity promises to improve blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar levels and risk for heart attack and stroke. But that’s not all! Exercise:
- has been known to reduce risk for many cancers
- has many mental health benefits too: helping calm anxiety and depression
- improves lung capacity, circulation as well as intestinal motility
In fact, as medical practitioner, I write an exercise prescription for every patient I see because not only is exercise medicine; it is the best preventive medicine. It is effective for over forty of the most commonly seen medical conditions in a busy doctor’s office. I am not suggesting you drop everything and take up walking fifteen miles a day. What is the best exercise? The best exercise is the one that you will do every day because you enjoy it. Go discover your favorite physical activity and you would discover the closest thing to your fountain of youth.
How Much Sodium Should You Take; Are You Shaking Up Risks?
Americans, perhaps unconsciously, consume salt far in excess of our daily requirement. So, on average how much salt are we ingesting- 3000 mg a day which is twice the recommended intake of 1500 mg a day.
Indeed, sodium is essential for bodily functions including maintaining a fluid and electrolyte balance in the body, nerve conduction and muscle contraction. Throughout much of human history salt was seen as a precious commodity and the focus was on maintaining adequate intake.
Did You Know: Potassium is Replaced with Sodium in Our Diet 
Now that focus has shifted as processed, preserved and manufactured foods became more prevalent and sodium intake increased. In fact one of the key shifts that occurs with food processing is the reversal of sodium potassium ratio: addition of sodium and removal of potassium. The majority of our sodium now comes from sauces, condiments, soups, canned foods, prepared mixes in addition to the ever popular fast food and pizza.
Ultimate Cost of Excessive Sodium Consumption
In an ideal world, our body should have a mechanism for getting rid of excess salt. In many individuals however the kidneys become overwhelmed by the excess of salt and are unable to excrete it. As sodium starts to accumulate in the body, water follows, leading to excess blood volume. 
This increases the pressure within blood vessels and results in the heart having to work harder to push this excess volume through the circulation. This results in a vicious circle of hardening of the arteries as well as thickening of the heart muscle resulting in even higher blood pressure and congestive heart failure, chronic kidney disease. Thus starts the cycle of sodium accumulation resulting in even worse “sodium sensitivity” leading to hypertension, heart disease, strokes and kidney disease.
Problem is Wide Spread
75 million people in the US age 20 and older have hypertension (of those, 25% are unaware of their condition). Extensive research has shown that more than 2400 mg of sodium daily as associated with elevated blood pressure. With an average sodium intake of 3000 mg a day, we are all at risk of developing high blood pressure as a result of our food habits.
You Can Easily Turn It Around
Even with modest reduction in sodium intake we can see dramatic improvements in high blood pressure, heart attack risk and its resulting mortality.
In other words, restricting salt saves lives. So how much sodium should you reduce to?
The good news is that it’s easy to reduce your salt intake by gradually cutting back. The taste buds adjust naturally just as our ears adjust to increasing or decreasing the volume of music. By reading labels carefully and choosing fresh, unprocessed and low-sodium foods, substituting for salt whenever possible, we can easily reduce our intake to a more healthy level of 1500 mg a day.
This is low hanging fruit in our quest for wellness!
Be Well!
Dr. Pankaj Vij
Slow Down Aging: Avoid 5 Specific Sugar and Fat Felons
The five fluid felons for our health are:
- White Sugar
- Simple Carbohydrates
- Corn Syrup
- Saturated Fat
- Trans-fat
By systematically eliminating these sugar and fats from the diet, we can get rid of the majority of poisons in our food supply which wreak havoc on our metabolism by switching on signals of disease and distress. These fluid felons pull the trigger to start cascade of diseases: all related to weight and metabolism and manifested by obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease and strokes.
Even though sugar is the primary energy currency of the body, we would still be fine by getting rid of all the white sugar in our diet. In addition, by getting rid of simple carbohydrates (starchy foods with a high glycemic index which are quickly converted to sugar in the body), we can reduce the damaging effects of blood sugar spikes which affects the way cells communicate with each other in the body.
High fructose corn syrup or corn sugar is even worse than white sugar because of the way it overrides the satiety signals and switches on disease processes. This is found in most sweetened foods and beverages because it is inexpensive to produce and has a long shelf life.
Saturated fat and trans-fat are found in red meat and in fried snack foods which are so common in our environment. It would be easy to eliminate saturated fat and trans-fat by cutting down our intake of fast food such as hamburgers and french fries which are staples of our “modern” diet of highly processed, manufactured, inexpensive and convenient food.
The issue is that our body does not even recognize these sugar and fats in our diet and does not know how to process or discard it. So the best prevention is not to include these felons in our diet in the first place. Other than regular exercise, this is the best strategy for slowing down the aging process and age gracefully. This is the closest thing we have to the fountain of youth!
Be Well,
Pankaj Vij MD FACP
Healthy Eating Habits: It’s Not What, It’s How You Eat it?
In ancient Vedic times, offering food to the body with love was a ritual. This ritual is almost exactly the same as offering of foods and other things with love to the Gods in presence of fire and asking for their blessings in return. These rituals of offerings with love are found in many corners of the planet in different cultures. Now imagine offering of the food with love to the “fire” (of hunger) in our stomach and asking for blessings of a healthy body in return. Wouldn’t you agree, this is one of the very basic healthy eating habits?
Today we have scientific experiments that support this notion. One such experiment was conducted with rabbits.
One group of rabbits was fed unhealthy cholesterol rich food by throwing the food into their cage. The other group of rabbits was given the same unhealthy food but after holding and petting them with love. Results were startling different. Yes, you guessed it right! The group fed by food thrown into the cage developed heart and circulatory diseases while the group of rabbits fed with love showed a little or no adverse effects on their circulatory system.
Could we not take in food with love to maintain health of our own bodies? Of course we can and we must make time for it. 
If you are still with me, then you must be serious about making a fundamental change in your lifestyle for better health. You will find my passion in my in this and many other articles to inspire people to change. My goal is to awaken the “doctor” in you that you are born with.
Thank you for your time and attention. If you would like to join in my passion then the biggest tribute you can give is by sharing this information with others. You will raise their awareness to small fundamental preventive care tips offered here, promote health and wellness, and change their lives forever. Be Well!
PS: First step in changing your eating habits is to start Eating Suitable Foods not just healthy foods. Learn this know-how in FREE “simple secret to good health” mini course. Subscribe here:
Are You eating Ideal Foods or Just Healthy Foods?
Is there a difference between eating healthy foods and ideal foods? Yes, if you would like to eat the foods that are healthy and suitable for YOU! You can select healthy foods based on their fat, type of fat, carbohydrate, protein, sodium, and other contents.
But do you ever stop and think about how the nature (energy) of foods you are taking daily will interact with your unique nature. While it is important to select healthy foods by checking their contents, but for choosing ideal foods you need to go one step further to understand the effect of the food on your unique nature (body type). Download mini-course below to discover your body type (constitution).
Understanding the interactions between the two natures (food and yours) are very important for you. Why, because the interactions can either maintain a balance or create an imbalance in your body. So, even the foods which are healthy can cause imbalance. If you consume such ‘healthy foods’ regularly, the imbalance would accumulate over the years finally showing itself in some form of a disease.
For example, eating raw fresh vegetables are considered healthy. But for some body types these will not be ideal foods. Eating these regularly could cause digestive problems or even cause anxiety, mood swings, or insecure feelings in the mind.
So how do you select ideal foods for yourself from healthy foods? Here Ayurvedic (ancient) medical system comes to the rescue. Unlike modern nutritional systems that recommend ‘one-size-fit-all’ guidelines, Ayurvedic system approaches nutrition based on the uniqueness of an individual.
Download free Ayurveda body type quiz below.
Once you understand this system, it will be easier for you to prepare ideal meals. For example, hot spicy meals may be good for one body type, but may create problems for another body type. Preparing meals with ‘heavy’ oils may be excellent for one, but may be problematic for another.
To apply this system in your life, you must first understand your own unique nature- mind-body constitution. To help accomplish this, I have created a very basic mini-course that you can download free of charge below or get a copy of “Health + Happiness = Wellness” book with very comprehensive wellness for your unique mind-body. You will discover that your nature and nature of everything you eat and drink are made of 5 elements and 3 energies present in different proportions. The mini course walks you through in determining your nature and the nature of the foods ideal for you.
Remember: All ideal foods for you are healthy foods. However, not all healthy foods are ideal foods for you. The ideal foods not only provide the necessary nutrients but also keep your three energies in balance and do not produce toxins in your body.
Subscribe to FREE mini course below to discover your constitution:
