Update July: USA/Kushi Institute for Natural Healing ...

Hellooooo! So, coming to the end of first week at the KI in Mass. Really inspiring stuff, all about yin and yang of food essentially and how foods affect us. So many incredible stories about how people have healed themselves from the Macrobiotic ('long life') diet. It starts from Hippocrates' saying "let food be thy medicine and medicine be Thy food"... So interesting considering doctors these days start from the Hippocratic Oath yet only study a few hours of nutrition (what H. was all about really) in their entire study and training!!! And the food in hospitals is accordingly terrible as we all know. There is one Macro hospital in the US but that didnt come easy and due to the nature of the industry, money and power (the devilish pharmaceutical industry) Macro is far from being accepted as mainstream healing method even though depositions have been made to Congressional hearings, etc over the years and always well-received due to the healing of many stage 4 cancer patients like me (among others) using Macrobiotics. Those case studies are quite incredible and the food though subtle is deeelicious when by the right hands. Meeting macro 80 year olds with diabetes who look 60 at the most and 60 year olds lookin more like 35 year olds is quite eye-opening too, thats for sure!!! Wow! So, i have been learning all about how foods affect us on a profound level, affecting all aspects of the human body including the autonomic nervous system, the immune system and more. i've had a wonderful shiatsu massage, watched cooking demos (more practice next week) by the very gifted macro chef/counsellors here, met some lovely and courageous people, plus had a one-on-one counselling session with John Kozinski to fine tune my diet. So, no tofu for me, more sea-salt (and always well cooked-in to the dishes), some more fish for strength,better cooked snd soaked grains (i was undercooking my brown rice bigtime for a start, should be soaked overnight them cooked for 40 mins plus), switching honey i sometimes use for far healthier brown rice syrup and more more more. My condition is all about tightness so food that helps open up my digestive tract and build it up is the order of the next few years. My main remedy he prescribed me (made of water, soy sauce, umeboshi plum & thickening agent called kuzu) had an almost immediate effect and i have had 6/7 nights pain-free after a month or more of pain every night plus i have even slept thru the night on a couple of occasions. Especially joyous days tend to follow for me after that i can tell you! So, i really see the power of the right food already after a challenging few months for me health wise. Its been so bad i have been running average of only 5-10km per week and obviously my 100km challenge has been rather sidelined, which is a shame. Guess i will just have to run more in autumn/fall when i get back from my trips to US and after that, Japan. Any more donations would be gladly accepted, lord knows i need the motivation! In other happier news I was accepted on the Mandala Yoga Ashram teacher training program and sent off my deposit before i left England. So, big changes afoot there too, i will start in September and be headed to the ashram monthly thereafter for 2 years when i will qualify. A unique chance to not only do something very healthful with my life but also to really grow as a person, towards my goal of being a yoga teacher. Exciting times for me. After that i dream of coming back here for sure to learn more about Macrobiotics... Really is fascinatng stuff! Our standard meat, sugar, non-food and dairy-heavy diets these days are just so destructive but seeing first hand a leukemia patient who was given 3 days to live by his medical doctor not only being alive 3 months later but seemingly well on his way to a full recovery. Mind-blowing stuff and he is certainly not the only one!  I write this on my mobile so cant add any links right now but i will try to later if you want more info on Macrobiotics for example and some recommended books. It really can help ANY medical condition! Much love Dave www.mymtokyo.com www.Mindlessfulness.blogspot.com http://marianadubsessions.podomatic.com

Belly-aches & musical musings

Guess I should update the blog before I leave my laptop behind me and head off into the wilderness. Well, not only the wild but I am off to the USA for the first time tomorrow for a month - will be facing some wilderness over in Yosemite & Sequoia National in California (bring on the tree-hugging!) for sure (them bears better watch out!) but now also some city (New York!) plus 2 weeks studying Macrobiotics at the Kushi Institute in Massachsetts. I am traveling light with just one 42litre duffel and I couldnt fit a toothpick more in! - something I find very difficult these days - I really cant wait! I will try to update the blog when I am there but adding photos might be a challenge. We will see...

This update I also wanted in this blog to make sure you didnt think I had it ALL easy. Yes I have been in Devon surfing this last month, also enjoying the gorgeous Gower in Wales plus have done my yoga teacher training interview for which happily I now have my place - which I have of course accepted. BUT, it has been a really tough month or so as well. Its funny how its only through a certain amount of suffering that we can really feel bliss, contentment and peace. After 10 days (I though that was bad) of horrible colic attacks stopping me sleeping I had 2 short but deep sleeps at the ashram, waking up feeling refreshed and rested. And boy did I feel good... i even wrote a blog about how incredible it was to feel no pain after 10 days of it. Then it hit again and to be honest it hasnt abated. We have been trying all kinds of dietary adjestments but once again it just seems to be my body doing what it wants, when it wants & I just have to grimace and bear it. The only thing that seems to bring relief is Bicarbonate of Soda... hardly ideal long-term but trust me I dont have any choice. The number of times I have been sitting in my bed for hours at a time unable to sleep for the pain, knowing the next day would be ruined because of it I cant even remember.  Who knows what's going on in my digestive system really, and whether this is still all massively linked to emotional or psychological issues that may well have been the seed which began this whole process of dis-ease... but I hold on to the idea that it is my body getting on with the catharsis of toxins built up over the years I know it needs to start my energy moving awy from cancer cell production to only healthy cells. In a way the ridiculous amount of rain has only mirrored the feeling of frustration...
 
still, in the midst of the snippets of love, friendship, laughter, inspiration, freedom - yoga sessions, a wedding, festivals, sightseeing, walks, swims in a torrent, healing, chanting, meditations, - I STILL really wouldnt change my situation for the world...



Lastly, some music for those of an open mind: MYMTOKYO 07.2012 (click the link)

I used to do a monthly radio show for Samurai FM with full voiceover but it was just too time consuming so I dropped it. This is the first 'show' if you can call it that now its voiceover-less for over a year. There is some ambient mellow stuff but not only that - also techno, bass music and more... thats my only warning to those wanting only easy listening this is not for you... though you will find moments you will enjoy I think. Its a wide selection showing some of the stuff I have been listening to lately. Not a lot of place for the genre I am most known for playing - techno - in my life these days ...