Posts in category: Health

There’s no doubt that covid-19 has taken up all the air in the room these days, but know that there are different ways of viewing the situation . . . and new perspectives that will let you breathe more easily.

Let’s take a look at what’s happening from the four different directions of the medicine wheel. In Native American symbology, the four cardinal points (plus Mother Earth, Father Sky, and the Spirit Tree) embody all the dimensions, everything from your health to the cycles of life. Think of how many things you know that are comprised of fours: the four seasons, the four directions, the four stages of life (birth, youth, adult, and death), and the four basic aspects of life: physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual.

Add to that the four brains, and their corresponding levels of perception. Here’s how you can shift your perspective on the pandemic:

At the lowest level, you perceive the world through the reptilian brain, comprised of the cerebellum and the brain stem on the physical level. In the energy world, this brain is connected to the first chakra. At a deep instinctual level, survival is uppermost. You need food and water and shelter from the storm. You’re on the lookout to avoid danger, ever ready for fight or flight. That’s the basic level of the evening newscast, the literal and physical level of what’s happening. What parts of the body is the virus affecting? Do any treatments work? What about your underlying condition? How many deaths have been reported in your local area? Is it safe to eat take-out?

The reptilian brain works through action-reaction. The governor says stay at home. You immediately react. Of course, I want to avoid danger; I’ll socially distance and wear a mask when I have to go out. Or hell no, you can’t restrict my freedom and tell me what to do while my business is collapsing. Danger to the left, danger to the right. You’re not looking for causes, for underlying meaning, for spiritual connection; you’re just wanting things to get back a.s.a.p. to “normal.” Meaning, safe.

As you rise a bit in consciousness, you enter your mammalian brain and the second level of perception. Physically, this is the limbic system, the structures in the brain involved in emotions and memory. Energetically, it is connected to the second chakra and to your mind and emotions. Here you’re going from the purely physical level to words and their meaning, and to your feelings. “Shelter in place,” for example, can evoke a feeling of protection and security, or a stifling feeling of imprisonment, depending on your perspective.

You seek solutions at this level; you’re not just running from fear but looking for possibilities. Maybe you are helping get surplus food to those in need. Or you’re a formerly retired health care worker who has returned to the front lines. Or you’re making masks for your local hospital.

You seek solutions to keeping yourself healthy, beyond simply social distancing. You combat your concerns about the virus by boosting your immune system—eating foods rich in antioxidants, taking supplements that support your health. If your livelihood has been compromised, you are busily working to secure PPP and other disaster loans to cover the gap.

Rising higher in awareness, you come into the human brain, which is the neocortex, the layers involved in the functions of the higher brain, such as perceiving with your senses, thinking, reasoning and language. This third level of perception is connected to your sixth chakra. You have the vision to frame your time at home as an opportunity to uplevel your care for yourself. You enjoy offerings online, from art to yoga to music. You are grateful for having the time to stop, to take stock, to clean out what is no longer wanted or needed in your life and embark on personal projects you simply never had time for before. And you continually find ways to serve others, reaching out on Facetime to an elder who is home alone, or helping home school a child online so his parents can get some work done.

You can envision this “time out of time” as a spiritual retreat, and do ceremony, meditation, soul-searching, diving deeper into your spiritual lineage or exploring new ones. You combat loneliness and isolation by connecting to others via WhatsApp or FaceTime or Zoom. You attend spiritual teachings you wouldn’t have had time for before. (Come to my teaching on The Spiritual Gifts today at 1:00 pm PDT or watch the replay later) You participate in online group meditations. (Join mine every Thursday at 1:00 pm PDT) In the Native American tradition, and most indigenous traditions, the importance of community is a bedrock of belief.

Here is where your beliefs are, as well as your ability to go beyond your ingrained beliefs, beyond your behavioral patterns, and redirect your efforts to walking the path.

And then you reach the fourth level of perception, the fourth brain, called the “God brain” by neuroscientists. Known more commonly as the prefrontal cortex, this is the part of the cerebral cortex that covers the front of the frontal lobe. Complex cognition, social behavior, and how you express your Self are all here, and are connected to the seventh chakra. It is the perspective of total wholeness. All is well at this level. Spirit is unfolding in the play of maya. You are living through your heart and know the truth of the heart. The virus is a small pinprick in your awareness, not a tidal wave of fear.

The God brain knows we are all One, and all is in Divine order. All those ads on TV blaring “we are all in this together” are more right than they know. At the energetic level, you trust the Universe, trust Spirit, to provide whatever you need to grow in awareness, to open your heart further, and to see the whole picture.

Remember, the more peaceful you are, the calmer you are, the more you can live with the silence within, the better prepared you are for whatever happens next. And the easier it will be for you to handle what is happening now, in your home, in your mind, and in your heart. You are never alone; Spirit is always with you.

It’s only the 3rd week of January in Southern California, but we are already welcoming the sun back into our daily lives. We missed her and our time outside under her sunny rays. 

Once the sun comes back into your life, go outside and make some vitamin D and you will feel a whole lot better, because, chances are, you are battling low-level depression.

Today, we understand better the role of vitamin D and its protection against depression. This little vitamin, best obtained from sunlight, not only plays a role in bone health, but also in the health of your brain. A plethora of neurological disorders have been linked to insufficient vitamin D, including depression and Alzheimer’s. 

Even more recent studies connect the ever-increasing problem of childhood mental health issues like bi-polar and schizophrenia, showing up in younger and younger children, to the lack of vitamin D; kids just don’t play outside like they used to.

But what about all the advice you hear to slather up/cover up at the first blush of the sun? It turns out that 20+ years of advice was dead wrong, and, as is often the case, your mother was right, when she urged you to get outside and get some sun.

Nearly three quarters of people living in the Northern Hemisphere have less than the required amount of vitamin D and nearly one quarter in the Southern Hemisphere are below par. People live indoors and when they are outside, they are covered with sunscreen. Not like our early days when we ran around all day under the sun, buck-naked and free. That all changed around 75,000 years ago, when we moved out from East Africa to points around the world, many of which required the wearing of skins and living under a roof of some sort. But even those folks were outside a lot, up until about 100 years ago, when we started living indoors, and more so every single year.

It’s no wonder that depression is becoming one of our biggest problems world-wide. 

You get 90% of your vitamin D from the sun; chances are, your bank of vitamin D (stored in your liver) is close to empty at the moment. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, your bank is even more depleted, as meat and fish eaters have higher levels of D.