be The Grateful Dead. The task is taking responsibility for our own lives. We can choose who we want to be and then create ourselves!
A key to all self-healing is compassion. Expressing compassion for oneself creates an inner ease and clear perspective from which much can change and heal. Compassion grows in an openness to spirit in one’s life. The form is not important. The ineffable must be part of one’s life; meaning and significance, no matter how indefinable or subtle, must be actively present in one’s experience and expression. This may take the form of meditation, prayer or whatever works for each of us. The form is irrelevant, the content and attitude crucial. Openness to the experience of soul and spirit is healing, and affirms wholeness of being.
* Alice Bailey, Esoteric Healing, Lucis Press 1953 ‘Ibid
* Ibid
* J.E. Lovelock, Gaia, a New Look at Life on Earth, Oxford University Press, 1979.
* David Bohm, Wholeness and the Implicate Order, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980.
* These parallels are explored by Fritjof Capra in his excellent book The Tao of Physics, Fontana/Collins, 1975.
* Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy, Granada, 1980.
* J. Z. Young, Introduction to the Study of Man, Oxford University Press
The blood is the life, and free exchange, free sharing, free circulation of all that is required for right human living will characterise the world to be. Today these conditions do not exist, the body of humanity is diseased and its internal life disrupted. Instead of free circulation between all parts of the life aspect, there has been separation, blocked channels, congestion and stagnation. It has needed the terrific crisis of the present to arouse humanity to its diseased condition.
Alice Bailey
We begin our trip through the systems of the body by having a look at the circulatory system, as it is one that connects all the others, and affects all of them.
Whilst considering the circulatory system, let us keep in mind that it is a transport system we are looking at. In this section we are not yet concerned with what is being transported, namely the blood, which is a combination of various substances made up in different parts of the body. In this section we will be talking about the health and the right function of the heart and the blood vessels.
The vitality and tone of the whole circulatory system is fundamental to life and to the integration of all the parts of the body. If there is weakness or congestion present, it will have profound effects on the tissues and organs involved. The blood may be in perfect condition, but if the supply of this blood to the organs is not adequate, there will be problems. Similarly, if waste materials produced in the metabolic process are not removed properly, damage to tissue will quickly result.
From this we can conclude that any disease focused in any organ may have its roots in an insufficiency of the circulatory system, either because the organ is not being properly supplied with blood, or because the waste it produces is not being drained off well enough.
When we look at the body in a holistic way and treat any disease from this perspective, we recognise that all organs and systems are connected and influence each other. We have to look at what each one individually contributes to the whole picture. The heart vessels may be involved in any condition, and must be helped and aided in the healing process.
In our society the circulatory system is a common site for illnesses, often fatal ones, as we do not take proper care of our heart and blood vessels by our way of living and by our approach to life. Prevention of circulatory problems is easy, and a number of guidelines are set out below.
When major heart problems are already apparent, the matter is somewhat different and care must be taken. Herbal medicine has a lot to offer in the healing of heart failure and cardiac conditions, but any treatment has to be under qualified supervision.
Prevention of circulatory disease
Prevention is far better than having to resort to curing a disease that has developed, and prevention means finding ease for body, mind and spirit.
We call a condition disease when the body is so worn out that it begins to manifest symptoms. With most people it takes a number of years to get to such a state, as the body is usually able to handle quite a lot for a long time without breaking down. There is often a steady decline; we are not quite as strong and vigorous as last year, our health is not quite as good as it could be. It is declining towards a state of disease, but we don’t notice it until something breaks down and we are ill.
There are specific details relating to the cardiovascular system that should be borne in mind. They apply not only to anyone who already has problems with this particular system, or whose way of life puts them into a ‘high risk category’ for developing cardio-vascular conditions. They also apply to anyone who does not want to develop problems in that area.
There are four factors that need to be considered:
Exercise: It is vital for the whole system that it is used and at least occasionally stretched. The only way to ensure that heart and blood vessels are truly used is to exercise so the heart beat is speeded up and we become short of breath. This does not mean that people should jog themselves into exhaustion every day! Regular exercises that feel right and are enjoyable are the key. Moderation in all things, exercise included.
Diet: As far as the circulatory system is concerned, the most important single factor that causes problems is the intake of fat, which most of us eat far too much of. Over the last couple of years we have heard a lot about a relationship between the consumption of saturated fats and the level of cholesterol (one of these fats) in the blood, leading to various cardiovascular problems. One recommended way out was to eat unsaturated fats instead of the dangerous saturated ones, mainly by changing from animal fats to vegetable fats. According to new research, however, it is not all that simple. The evidence is pointing to dangers in the consumption of unsaturated fats too, and the only safe way out is to reduce your total fat intake, which in general means cutting it out all together. And this means a decrease in the consumption of visible fat (in meat,
