My Kindle Book, The Power of Illness, is now $0.99

I have made the cost of my book ‘The Power of Illness to Change Your Life,’ as low as Amazon will allow.

They will not allow me to make it free so $0.99 is as good as it gets.

I think you might enjoy it. It is the story, at least some of it, of how I healed naturally from a serious case of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, despite doctors and professionals assertions that healing was impossible.

It is a pretty wild and reassuring story with some good pointers if that is what you are looking for.

Here are some reviews.

Great book. Fully explains the journey of healing, describing all the alternative therapies available to heal holistically. I have tried to lead a spiritual wholesome healthy lifestyle, and sometimes things change, and we are further from where we started or wanted to be. This book has given me the push to get healthy again and look after the body and mind. Highly recommend it.

Kavi writes with so much passion, insight, respect and care for the reader.
His book is part biographical, part information and guidance. I have learnt a huge amount from reading this book and the writing style is very easy to follow.
This truly is a book for everyone – whether you are well or unwell. If you are considering buying this, do it! You will not regret it!
A truly inspirational book, to be read again and again.

Give it a try. I want everyone to understand that healing IS possible, it’s not some figment of the imagination. I do not care what doctors say, they were wrong in my case and they might be wrong in others cases.

We are in delicate and disturbing times when immune integrity matters more than ever. I had to deal with exactly that. And it has helped me and healed me.

Please please please download my book. It is not perfect and it’s not a ‘how to’ manual. It’s an inspirational message that we have more capability than we are told. But we must take power over our bodies, emotions and thoughts.

SHORT FAST – Chipping Away at Ill Health

The incremental benefits of short fasts.

We spend so much time looking for the magic bullet treatment that we are in danger of missing the benefits of slowly slowly chipping away at ill health.

I have often thought ‘Oh if only I did another long water fast, like 21 days, it would help me so much!’

But in truth what I notice is that, while I wait to see if that is possible, I do what I can, and what I can is to water fast almost every day, finishing eating by at least 4pm and not eating till breakfast the next day. That gives about 16 hours of fasting.
Honestly, that is so beneficial to the body, to digestion, to assimilation that it really should not be over looked.

We don’t need half of what we actually eat. Most of eating is habit, a lot of it is emotional, and some of it is essential.
At first choosing to fast after lunch feels terrible. The mind screams ‘NO! WE WILL DIE!’ and will drive us towards desperate action.

But if you persist the body quickly gets used to it and begins to appreciate the opportunity it now has to start to slowly ‘clean house.’ If you go to bed with no digestion happening, or very little, it helps sleep, helps the liver, and thus helps the whole system.

Eating late in the evening is an absolute no no in our house, never happens, never. And I know people work, and people have kids and busy lives.

But if you are drawn to short fasting you have to find a way.

Some resources for you:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/intermittent-fasting-guide#what-it-is 

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/06/short-term-fasting-may-improve-health

https://www.allaboutfasting.com/how-long-should-you-fast.html

Detoxification – Gentle, Dramatic or Unnecessary?

I have just looked back at my blogs for the past year or so and noticed I have never really talked much specifically about detoxification and whether it is important, what it means, what I have done and what you might want to do.

So here goes.

I am biased. Lets get that clear right from the start. Until 2004, and from that time on, I had never heard of ‘detoxification.’ Even though I had seen Chinese doctors and a homeopath, I had no idea what it really meant, or whether it was relevant or not.

I was sick by that time. Toxic, inflamed, rosacea all over my face, liver problems, passing out, pain everywhere, headaches and generally feeling tired and deathly.

Since that time, as well as being incredibly ill for a number of years (some of you know my history of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and since then Hashimotos (thyroid), fungal issues and mysterious rashes), I have done some MAJOR detoxification programs, treatments and home remedies.

My own personal view, born from experience, research and other people’s testimonies, is that detoxification is fundamentally important for real health and healing to happen. As I said, I am biased. I don’t believe I would have made the recovery I have without some major detoxification.

But I know the mainstream medical establishment doesn’t recognize it as valuable, in fact doesn’t recognize it, period. They would have it that the body is self regulating and can sort itself out, no need for this modern quackery.

But the proof, at least anecdotal proof, is there for all with eyes to see. People who don’t do any detoxification of any sort get sick. people who are sick and go on detoxification programs stand at least a chance of getting healed.

What is detoxification?
Wikipedia tells us: Detoxification or detoxication (detox for short) is the physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxification
They tend to use the term to describe those coming off addictive drugs or those who have been poisoned.

To be sure, there is clinical detoxification, usually in the form of methylation of toxic heavy metals. This is a good article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3239317/

The issue I’m really addressing is the alternative arena. From juice fasting to water fasting, from liver enemas to colon cleansing, and from Ayurvedic Panchakarma treatment to Raw Vegan Diet, you can pick a method and experiment, try one for a few days, get bored and jump to another, ad infinitum. And if your issue is weight control, and you have read or been told that detox is going to do it for you, you can spend years jumping from one method to another method, and spend a lot of money and waste a lot of time.

There is nothing worse than going through the hardship of a severe detox program only to abandon it after realizing that it’s not doing what it ‘says on the packet.’ It’s frustrating and disheartening.

But if you are sick with chronic disease, and it’s getting worse, or you have been diagnosed with cancer, and it’s urgent, and you are called to try detoxification, you don’t have the luxury of ‘trying things out and jumping ship.’

Honestly, I’m not saying I have any answers at all. I just want to open up the conversation to a more open minded one. I don’t much care for closed minds and entrenched positions, even from experts. So let’s be clear, I’m just talking around the whole subject here, and mostly only from personal experience. Search the internet and talk to lot’s of people, experts, those who have been through detoxification and healed, and those who haven’t, and find out as much as you can before you dive in.

And when you dive in, do so fully. Half hearted detoxification is an absolute waste of time. In fact stirring up the hornets nest of toxins that might be hidden inside your body, in places strategically placed there years ago by an overloaded liver, might be the worst thing you could do.

I have done 3 Ayurvedic panchakarmas in India, each one between 4 and 6 weeks. Not a week or a few days. 6 weeks! Thats a long time to be cleaning the body. Believe me , it’s incredibly deep and extremely powerful. And not just on the physical level. It impacts mind, body and spirit.
A short explanation of panchakarma: https://www.ayurvedichealing.net/panchakarma/

Of all the modalities and programs I have tried, this has been the deepest and most transformative. It gets to places other methods don’t. It gets deep into the joint, tissues and even the bones. It softens the body up over time so the body willingly releases what it no longer needs. It works WITH the body, not against it. The trouble with many modern detox methods is that they feel quite aggressive. And I have discovered that you just cant’t force the body to let go of what it’s held onto for years. It has to be encouraged through softness.

The root belief here is that toxins lie dormant in the body and accumulate over the years. These toxins, in the form of heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, all manner of coloring agents, plastics, and dangerous chemicals, as well as parasites, viruses and other antagonists, are often stored by the liver when it is called to deal with something potentially harmful to the body but not able to be eliminated. Over time, it could be years and it could be decades, the build up of accumulated toxins, coupled with bad diet and no exercise (for example) creates the ‘overflowing bucket syndrome,’ and that is when disturbing persistent and increasingly dangerous symptoms manifest, the kind that cannot be ignored.

That is when the disease is often fully diagnosed. It has been coming for a long time, drip by drip. But it was neglected or dealt with ‘half’heartedly’ and then bam!

Very often this is also when medication itself is used, which may suppress symptoms for a while, but the big trouble with medication is….It is toxic!

The argument for detoxification is that by practicing focused and proper detoxification, not just once but as a new ‘lifestyle’ choice, removing the antagonist toxins embedded in the body’s hiding places, that body can start the healing process. Toxins put such a load on the body it’s impossible for healing to take place at the same time as their presence. So to heal it makes sense that toxins must have to be removed. The body will heal when it can turn its attention fully to that healing. But while it is preoccupied with the inflammatory effects of its current toxic load it can barely survive, in fact as we see, it often can’t. That’s chronic disease right there.

That is why those who have really delved into the true power of detoxification are absolutely dedicated to it’s power and efficacy. I have to admit to be one of those people.

So, if I have gone any way towards convincing you detoxification might be useful, and I hope I have, which kind is most useful, dramatic or gradual?

Answer: BOTH.

I’m not as in favor of the dramatic as I used to be, simply because of the fact that change takes time, the body takes time, and healing takes time. Unless you have been poisoned, chronic illness and symptoms haven taken time to build up, and they will surely take time to recede into the background. If you start a genuine and consistent healing foods detoxification program and keep to it, it will surely help.

But you should do this anyway, regardless of your state of illness or not. Eating seasonally, AS WE ARE DESIGNED TO DO, naturally supports a kind of seasonal elimination and recalibration. Nature does this anyway, animals do it. We have forgotten because we can buy everything imported and we don’t grow our own crops.
This book by Dr Duillard is fabulous about eating seasonally and naturally. We have the paperback but this ebook is a bargain right now. https://lifespa.com/3-season-diet-ebook-flash-sale/

If you couple this with some deeper and more radical cleansing, possibly some fasting when done properly, or a panchakarma if you can find one in the west (even a 5 day is good), or a good clinical methylation to remove heavy metals, you will begin to feel benefits.

The thing that I have noticed is that its the mental attitude to detoxification, diet and healing, that really underpins whether it might work or not. If you aren’t really into it, if you have massive doubts, or if you approach it with the half heartedness I talked about, you are onto a loser. If you embrace the adventure and the unknown, the absolute mystery of it, you might be very surprised by it’s power.

Remember this. Nearly ALL old religions and cultures have practiced one form of detoxification or another. Consider Jesus going into the desert for 40 days and nights. Consider Ramadam, a month long fasting program, and of course Ayurveda itself is rooted in ancient history. Steams, saunas, even sweat lodges, acupuncture and chinese medicine, all attend to the detoxification process, and all are ancient practices. It’s been around for a long time.

So this blog went much longer than I expected, and it’s not even touched the surface. I am no expert on this. But I honestly believe that my healing has in large part been down to so much detoxification. Don’t dismiss it, and if you aren’t really healing , maybe it’s because you are not really getting deep enough into the body.

Some detoxification methods  have done:
Panchakarma x 3
21 day water fasting plus many days fasting
Intermittent fasting
Juice fasting
Liver Cleansing
Colon Therapy
Seasonal eating
Raw Food diet for 3 years

Thank you so much for reading. Please comment if you can add anything useful or just drop me a line.

Have a great day.

Kavi

What Disease?

How did I heal Ulcerative Colitis?
I didn’t.
What I did was remove what was triggering the inflammation and reactivity in my struggling body.
All the words ‘Ulcerative Colitis’ mean is ulceration of the colon, inflammation of the colon. That is a description not a disease.
It turned out to be toxic residue from years of drug abuse.
It turned out to be heavy emotional burden and traumas from youth.
It tuned out to be heavy metals.
It turned out to be liver stagnation.
It turned out to be lymphatic congestion.

All these were resolved almost fully with serious and focused detoxification and nourishment of the organism.
And with serious and focused emotional healing, releasing what was stuck in the body and mind system.
And getting some health going again.
With exercise, fresh air and relaxation.

At no point did I do anything about ‘Ulcerative Colitis.’

But magically, or obviously, by the time I finished my 21 day water fast, and since then, I have had NO SYMPTOMS at all of this disease they call Ulcerative Colitis.

As far as they are concerned I still have it.

As far as I’m concerned its vanished because I didn’t have any ‘disease’ in the first place. I had symptoms, sign posts, indicators of deep issues that were causing me big problems.

I hope you get this and show it to anyone who has chronic issues.

Don’t let the diagnosis define you. Think bigger and deeper.

Get wise and aware.

DETOXIFICATION Brings us Face to Face with Ourselves.

Today is the final day of our new year cleanse. A big pot of Kitchari.

Tonight we take Epsom salts (or Prune Juice in my case as I’m sensitive to Epsom) and then tomorrow we may get rid of old toxins.

It hasn’t been very difficult but its always better to go somewhere neutral to do cleansing I find.
There are too many distractions and work related issues at home. It pulls you into the world, and a big part of detoxifying is to drop the world for a while and go inside.

That inner space doesn’t always have to be peaceful, it is more just a turning in another direction, inside instead of outside, and that turning attention within seems to do something, allowing the nervous system to relax, and allowing all old thoughts, beliefs and emotions to rise to the surface for healing.

The mind and the body follow each other, sometimes one leads and sometimes the other.

The point of holistic health is to get the relationship between these two apparently separate things (in truth they are not separate) as harmonious and fluid, as natural and relaxed, as possible.

When they are out of whack there is a disconnect between mind and body and between emotions and body, and between spirit and body, and that disconnect can become chronic and dangerous to the whole organism.
Much of illness has its roots in this disconnect. All chronic illness has its roots in this disconnection.

Healing it can seriously help restore connection and harmony. But to restore connection we may need to attend to the body and it’s stored ‘stuff,’ and by stuff I mean real life toxins from chemicals to heavy metals to pharmaceutical drugs etc etc AND old and toxic emotions that hurt and strain the system like pent up rage or guilt, old trauma and grievances.

Detoxification brings us face to face with ourselves. I guess that’s why so many people don’t like it.

The process is simple. As you go further into detoxification, through whichever method suits you (fasting, panchakarma, juicing, or specific diet) so old toxins and impurities that have hidden in your system for ages, become dislodged and begin to circulate, hopefully in readiness for elimination through various channels. This dislodging and circulating creates discomfort, both physically and emotionally, and creates a certain energetic invitation to revisit old memories and sometimes painful experiences. It brings up your stuff.

The task is to be able to allow all of these to be released, both physically AND mentally/emotionally. If you can’t release them emotionally they may well end up being re-stored in the body until you are ready. There is no ‘right or wrong’ about this, there is only readiness or unreadiness. So we do what we can, we prepare ourselves emotionally for the detoxification experience, support the body to release on the physical level and attend to our emotional and mental wellbeing by not getting too caught up in old triggers or dramas and becoming more equanimous.

That is not always easy. And it really doesn’t mean putting on a brave face or pretending it didn’t hurt or it doesn’t still hurt. Of course not. It means being real, and if it means crying or being angry then that’s what must happen. But it does mean not getting stuck anywhere with stories or righteousness or justification. It means FEELING IT FULLY AND LETTING IT GO.

Detoxification is the time to turn one’s love inwards and to take care and nurture oneself, physically and emotionally. If we want lightness and freedom to flow in our lives, we have to give that lightness and freedom to our own bodies, our own cells and our own emotional wellbeing. It is a valuable time for restoration and is a wonderful antidote to the world that constantly pulls us outwards into forever doing. Everything about the modern world is based on activity, on doing things, on the speed we move at, on time itself, of which there never seems to be enough.

Detoxification turns all that on its head and invites us to drop it, at least for a while. No wonder its challenging.

HAPPY NEW HEALING!

Thanks for reading.

 

 

Don’t Just Do Something, Lie There

BODY INTELLIGENCE – Don’t Intervene Too Early

If at all possible, and you will have to experiment with this, try and let the body ‘do its thing’ without intervention.
It may be what is needed, and you could be overriding the natural movement of the body to heal.
We live in the age of rapid intervention.
I really believe we jump too soon because we have lost touch with our inner wisdom on the inside and our ability to treat ourselves with the right foods on the outside.

So we jump to intervention way too soon. Maybe its right and maybe its wrong.
The reason I say this is that most holistically minded healers, doctors and lay people consider the body mind system as self healing and super intelligent.
That means that when something goes out of balance the body will seek to rectify it.
Our task is to support that process. Not to intervene unless we absolutely have to.

Consider the animals and birds. All of them do the same thing if they get ill. NOTHING. They crawl away and pretty much stop eating and just wait. And they either get well or they die.

Now, we don’t have to crawl away and it doesn’t have to be that black or white, but its a good lesson in the power of non intervention.
And then if we must intervene, and very often we definitely need to, we must intervene intelligently. Thats a whole another story.

This is the essence of water fasting. Water fasting is actually not something you DO. It is the cessation of doing. That is one of the reasons we fail to understand its power or healing potential. We are so hooked up to the DOING SOMETHING paradigm that not doing something seems absurd.

But water fasting is proof that sometimes this non doing is exactly what is required. In the non doing of fasting the body starts to follow a pattern. It begins to change its focus and starts to clean house.

And that impacts the mind and emotions. It becomes a process – a cathartic and transformative process. Just by doing nothing. When mind has to stop, all it’s hidden shadows, its dark corners, are revealed.

It is the same with the silent retreats my wife AMODA MAA, runs. In the silence, that runs for between 5 and 10 days, the mind starts to scream for activity. It becomes quite desperate for something to occupy it. When this craving is not fed, something else starts to happen. What has been hidden and avoided comes to the surface for healing.

It is quite a dramatic experience, and nearly always brings an increased self knowledge, wisdom, and humility to people. It becomes a relief to do nothing and allow things to find their own way.

So if this non doing works on the mind level in spiritual retreat, and it works on the body level in fasting, why is NON DOING not really popular?

It is proof that we are far away from our living truth. When we are sick we go first to the doctor. Thats it for most people. They leave with the meds and never ever consider alternative actions or natural remedies, let alone nothing!

And very few people treat their depression, anxiety or anger by going to silent retreats or meditation.

No, we do not live in a society that values nothing. Maybe thats beginning to change. There are more spiritual gatherings than ever. There are more fasting centers, more health options than ever before, and more and more people are turning towards natural healing methods.

So something is happening. Or rather, NOTHING is HAPPENING!

PLEASE consider this.

Thanks for reading!

Help me return to this