Alchemy of Being

ALCHEMY OF BEING

MODULE 1 STUDY NOTES

ENERGETICS

Why Look at the History of Macrobiotics? The origins of any teaching reveals a lot about the character and content of that teaching. We can learn much about the character of macrobiotics by seeing where it has come from. This allows us to put macrobiotics in context of other teachings and practices around the world, and especially at this time with modern western understandings.

LAO TZU (around 604-531 BC)

Lao Tzu is said to have written the Tao Te Ching, describing the creation of the universe and its workings of the relative world.

Here is a translation of the first two chapters, from the book ‘The Complete Works of Lao Tzu’ by Ni Hua-Ching that is beautiful and worth a read. To give you a context to the depth of the work of field and flow In which we work in in the realm of maturation.

ANCIENT GREECE

The word ‘macrobios’ was used to describe a natural way of living and eating to create Big Long Life – Health and Longevity

“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food”. Hippocrates ( 5th C BC)

And there are many types of ‘food’. The environment we are in, the energy field we are living in and living from. All that we take in and absorb is some form of food.

So in this module we are looking at the whole being and what we are feeding ourselves with.

Back to the East (Worth a read just for interest)

SAGEN ISHISUKA (1850-1910)

In Japan, during the Edo period 1600 – 1868 the country promoted seclusion, in which a traditional way of life and diet was preserved, while much of the word was affected by industrialization and a modern materialistic and scientific view of life. Much of the macrobiotic understanding comes from this time.

Traditional medicine was based on an understanding of Ki, for example acupuncture, moxibustion, herbal medicine, and use of food remedies and compresses.

During the Edo period, rice was central to all meals, except for the poor who may have had to eat other grains. Other common foods were fish, vegetables, miso, shoyu, tofu, pickled vegetables, some chicken, and a little fruit. No meat was eaten, large mammals were not bred for eating, in fact eating meat was looked down on. Dairy foods were also not eaten.

From 1868 onwards, Japan put energy into modernising, taking much of the science, technology, and medicine from the West. In 1883 the Japanese government outlawed traditional medicine including acupuncture, moxa, massage and herbal medicine and established Western medicine as the official system. (In

Copyright © 2021 Nicky Clinch Ltd. All Rights Reserved 3 the 1850s Louis Pasteur had published his ‘germ theory of disease’ which came to dominate Western medicine, leading to development of ‘allopathic’ medicine. It also encouraged the eating of meat, dairy and sugar – these were seen as a way of developing greater size and strength (at this time the average height of Japanese men was 5 foot 4 inches, and women under 5 feet.)

Ishisuka studied western medicine and became a doctor, and at the age of 28 years became an army doctor. He later developed a kidney infection which western medicine could not get rid of, so he studied oriental classics such as the Yellow Emperors Classic of Internal Medicine. He gave up eating meat, dairy, sugar etc. and ate a traditional diet and cured himself.

In 1895 he left the army, and in 1897 brought out a 500 page book on the links between diet and health containing much scientific data and research. In 1898 he brought out a smaller and simpler book, ‘A Method of Nourishing Life Through Food’, which was very popular, with 23 editions being printed. In these books he used a scientific understanding, especially the sodium/potassium balance of foods and the body. He proposed:

1. Na/K balance is very important to health (more than other nutrients).

2. Food is the most important factor determining this balance.

3. Diet is the most important factor for health – all sickness begins with a Na/K imbalance in the body (challenging allopathic medicine).

4. Diet affects physical health but also thinking, spirituality, and whole societies. Health, life and destiny is created by the food we eat. (We still see this principle in modern macrobiotics.)

His dietary principles ( we can see many fundamental macrobiotic concepts and practices here!)

1. From our teeth, we are primarily eaters of plant foods.

2. We have long intestines typical of mammals eating a more plant-based diet.

3. Eat local foods for a better Na/K balance.

4. In history, every major civilisation had some grain as the principal food, supplemented with fish, fruit, veg etc. except in the far north where more animal food was needed.

5. Eat seasonally for a better Na/K balance.

7. He also recommended exercise and special baths.

His book was very popular, and apparently he gave 100 consultations a day, and became very famous for curing illness.

In 1908 his followers formed the Shoku-Yo, or ‘Food Cure Society’, to help peoples physical, mental and spiritual health.

1910 he passed on.

George & Lima Ohsawa (Yukikazu Sakurazawa, 1893-1966 and 1899-2000)

George Ohsawa’s character – he was born into the Samuri class of Japan, stoical, holding emotions in, never complaining. His early life was very difficult, his father left his mother, they were very poor and had little food or clothing. Then his mother died and he went to live with his father. He liked poetry and writing [8 Soil] but his father made him go to business school, after which he worked in various businesses for some years. He then got into Shoku-Yo, and began to feel a purpose in teaching, first in Japan, and then in the West. Very yang, strict, often severe, which set the tone for macrobiotics as a whole, certainly into the early 1980s when I started to study macrobiotics.

In 1912 when he was 19 years old he developed tuberculosis, which his mother and brother had already died from, which had become more common in modernising Japan. He picked up a book by Sagen Ishisuka and cured himself.

In 1916 he joined the Food Cure Society, at first teaching Ishizuka’s ideas, and then his own from his studies of Chinese philosophy and western science.

George Ohsawa on his In 1929 he resigned from the Food Cure Society to travel to the west to spread first visit to France (top), his ideas, first to Paris, creating the first macrobiotic community there. In 1931 and on his second with Lima (above) he published ‘The Unique Principle and Science of the Far East’, to bring Eastern ideas to the west.

He returned to Japan in 1935, and was very active in the world peace movement, as well as promoting a plant-based diet for health. In 1945 he was jailed for 6 or more months for his anti-war activities, and almost died from cold and starvation.

In 1948 he started a macrobiotic study house called Maison Ignoramus in Tokyo, where early students like Michio and Aveline Kushi, Herman and Cornelia Aihara and Tomio Kikuchi studied with him.

Copyright © 2021 Nicky Clinch Ltd. All Rights Reserved 5 In 1953 he travelled with Lima to India to teach macrobiotics, and in 1955 travelled to Africa to try to convince the famous Dr Schweitzer of the benefits of a macrobiotic diet. While with Dr Schweitzer in the Congo, he developed a serious case of tropical ulcers, which he then healed by eating a yang macrobiotic diet, but unfortunately Dr Schweitzer was unimpressed!

In 1956 he returned to France, and lectured widely in Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy and apparently also England. He inspired the Lima factory to start in Belgium, which is still producing and distributing a wide range of high quality natural foods.

For the rest of his life he travelled the world teaching in Europe, the USA and Japan, and published hundreds of articles and books in Japanese, French and English.

He died in 1966 at the age of 73, apparently from a heart attack, some think caused by a recurrence of the tropical ulcer bacterium that he developed in Africa.

Some of Ohsawa’s central ideas:

1. He replaced Na/K balance with yin and yang, as saw to be more universal.

2. He applied yin and yang to many areas of life, including biology, physics, chemistry and medicine.

3. He called his teachings ‘macrobiotics’ after the Greek tradition.

4. He summarised principles of creation of life in his ‘Unique Principle’ – 7 principles and 12 theorems – look at in detail later as very useful to understand life and healing.

5. He felt the primary purpose of life was to develop judgement, or consciousness. He taught that we can use seven levels of judgement, from physical to spiritual.

6. He changed the definitions of yin and yang in one respect – contraction and expansion.

7. He used the yin – yang approach to diet and illness, plus some traditional foods, dishes and plasters to heal.

8. Red blood cells created in the small intestine (only produced in the bone marrow in emergencies eg. when starved, as early animals were when red blood cell production was found in the bone marrow). His and others’ theory was that a process of biological transmutation converted magnesium atoms in plants into iron atoms in red blood cells.

Copyright © 2021 Nicky Clinch Ltd. All Rights Reserved 6 9. Towards end of life he was doing experiments to transmute simple metals into gold, as he thought that this would be very big step in convincing the world about his Unique Principle.

Extract from ‘Zen Macrobiotics’ first published around 1965 – worth a read to gain context.

Copyright © 2021 Nicky Clinch Ltd. All Rights Reserved 7 Copyright © 2021 Nicky Clinch Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8 George Ohsawa’s conception of the universe, from ‘The Order of the Universe’ by George Ohsawa.

The seven principles of the infinite universe are:

1. Everything is a differentiation of one Infinity.

2. Everything changes.

3. All antagonisms are complementary.

4. There is nothing identical.

5. What has a front (ie. visible side) has a back (an invisible side).

6. The bigger the front, the bigger the back.

7. What has a beginning, has an end.

The twelve laws of change of the infinite universe are:

1. One Infinity manifests itself into complementary and antagonistic tendencies, yin and yang, in its endless change.

2. Yin and yang are manifested continuously from the eternal movement of one infinite universe.

3. Yin represents centrifugality (expansion). Yang represents centripetality (contraction). Yin and yang together produce energy and all phenomena.

4. Yin attracts yang. Yang attracts yin.

5. Yin repels yin. Yang repels yang.

6. Yin and yang combined in varying proportions produce different phenomena. The attraction and repulsion among phenomena is proportional to the difference of the yin and yang forces.

7. All phenomena are ephemeral, constantly changing their constitution of yin and yang forces; yin changes into yang, yang changes into yin.

8. Nothing is solely yin or yang. Everything is composed of both tendencies in varying degrees.

9. There is nothing neutral. Either yin or yang is in excess in every occurrence.

11. Extreme yin produces yang, and extreme yang produces yin.

12. All physical manifestions are yang at the centre, and yin at the surface.

Michio & Aveline Kushi (1926 – 2014 and 1923 - 2001)

Michio went to Ohsawa’s lectures in 1948, he was primarily interested in creating world peace and world government. Ohsawa inspired him with the idea of biological transformation of humanity, and to teach macrobiotics based on a dietary approach to create world change.

In 1949 he travelled to America, first to New York, and then settled with Aveline in Boston, where they built up a big following. He and Aveline became the foremost teachers of macrobiotics, writing many books.

Some of his fundamental contributions:

1. He liberalised Ohsawa’s strict Japanese diet, and created the ‘Standard Macrobiotic Diet’ as the basis for everyone’s eating, adjusted for climate, season, personal health etc.

2. He talked about ancient world history and the future world, including the 26,000 year cycle created by the precession of the axis of the Earth.

3. He studied and developed various methods of Oriental diagnosis, and taught this widely in the west.

4. He looked for fundamental causes for heart disease, cancer, AIDS, and many other diseases, and gave tens of thousands of health consultations, helping many people recover from a variety of different illnesses. (Now summarized in ‘Macrobiotics for Total Health’).

5. He introduced the astrology system of Nine Star Ki to the west, linked with Five Transformations theory.

6. He promoted natural agriculture – long before permaculture got going.

There is a long tradition of macrobiotics in France and Belgium, as George Ohsawa spent time in these countries in the 1950s and 60s. This has created many people following his style of macrobiotic diet, with lots of rice and salt, creating a strong yang condition.

In the late 1960s Craig Sams and his brother Gregory set up a macrobiotic café in London based on one they saw in New York, and later created the Whole Earth food brand, and later still Green and Blacks chocolate. Craig supplied all the food at the very first Glastonbury Festival in 1971, when the ‘hippy’ counterculture embraced macrobiotic eating.

In the 1970s Bill Tara, Peter Bradford and others set up the Community Health Foundation in London, a large active centre with food and book shops, a restaurant, a cooking school, classrooms and a shiatsu school. Many people passed through this centre, and many went on to start their own East West centres, food shops, shiatsu schools etc. across Europe, continuing Ohsawa’s aim of bringing the benefits of Oriental philosophy and health practices to the west.

Since the 1980s many people have developed a more European style of macrobiotic diet, with a lighter way of eating with less grains and more vegetables, salads and desserts. Along with this, there is a general opening to the importance of our emotions and feelings, creating a more balanced approach that truly includes body, emotions, mind and spirit.

Now in 2021 and in this training we are taking the heartbeat of macrobiotics and Tao and working it to deepen our relationship with the whole being and our relationship to life and nature and the universe.

This is so much more than just food. This is life. I have come to realise that the heartbeat of the philosophy of macrobiotics is very much part of what is required for the evolution of human beings today and for the greatest process of maturation to become possible.

Dancing with our relations with flow, energy, polarity, and all of life itself allows us to dissolve the fixed structures of a 3D realm and stay open to the deep wisdom of life itself.

BOOK REFERENCES

The Book of Macrobiotics – Michio Kushi. Japan Publications. Hands of Light – Barbara Brennan. Radionics & the Subtle Anatomy of Man – David Tansley. Health Science Press

OUR ENERGETIC CONSTITUTION

As we have seen from Ohsawa’s Constitution of the Universe, the world of Ki, or energy, is much larger than the physical world. This has recently been confirmed by astronomers who have concluded that the universe is made up of approximately 75% dark energy, 20% dark matter, and only 5% matter. At the moment they have almost no idea what the dark energy and matter consist of!

By studying and appreciating the energetic nature of everything, and especially of life, we gain a deeper understanding of how nature and our own bodies work, which can be very useful in understanding ourselves and how to maintain and develop our health and wellbeing. While western culture has focused on developing a detailed understanding of the physical world, the Far East focused much more on understanding the energetic world, which is seen as controlling or determining what happens in the material world.

The energetic world also includes all aspects of ourselves, the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual, and so gives us a holistic understanding of ourselves, and of how these different aspects affect each other.

As yet, no one has invented a machine to detect Ki, but it is easily felt by anyone, as we are made of Ki, and can use our Ki to feel Ki!

Rub your hands, shake them etc. to get them warmed up and with more Ki in, then hold wide apart, and gradually move together, but don’t let them physically touch. As your hands get closer, feel for any sensations between your hands – if you feel something, play with it so the sensations become stronger. You are feeling the Ki emanating from your hands!

Now stand next to a partner, and slowly bring one hand closer to their back or shoulders, and see if you can feel their energetic aura in the same way.

THE CENTRAL CHANNEL (available for you in an audio file too)

The strongest flow of energy through the body is in the Central Channel, running from the top of the head, to the perineum at the base of the torso. Heaven’s yang energy travels downwards, and Earth’s yin energy travels upwards, mingling to produce a powerful current of energy. At 7 places these two opposite energies form spirals or wheels, called chakras.

Exercise to feel and strengthen your Central Channel

Stand in a stable position with your feet shoulder width apart, and use your hands to first guide Heaven’s energy down through your head, neck, spine, sacrum and down your legs and out through the feet, and then contact Earth’s energy and guide this up through the feet and legs, into the torso and up the spine to the level of the heart, then take the energy out through your shoulders and down your arms, and release from your hands upwards.

Keep repeating this Chi Gong exercise, so you feel a stronger and stronger flow of Ki through your Central Channel. You can coordinate your breath with your movements, or breathe independently.

Spend a few minutes just bringing Earth’s energy up your body, and see how you feel physically, energetically, psychologically and spiritually.

Then spend a few minutes bringing Heaven’s energy down through your body, and see how you feel in your being.

Do you feel different after doing these two exercises?

In Sanskrit, ‘chakra’ means ‘wheel’, as this is what they look like to a person who is clairvoyant. There are 7 main chakras, lying on the Central Channel, one at the entrance and exit point on the top of the head, and one at the perineum. There are then five more lying between these two. These 7 main chakras nourish the physical body, with each supplying energy to the surrounding organs and tissues, nerves and hormonal glands.

They also hold our emotions, thoughts, and spiritual awareness, and so hold 7 aspects of ourselves, or 7 different types of consciousness, on all levels of our being.

There are also 21 minor chakras at places like our shoulders, palms of the hands, knees, and soles of the feet. All the chakras are connected to each other, with the major chakras feeding and exchanging energy with the minor chakras, for example the major heart chakra is strongly connected with the minor palm chakras.

On the spiritual side of the 7 main chakras, over our lifetime we naturally move from having a lot of energy in our lower chakras, more concerned with our personal physical and emotional survival, to the higher chakras, more concerned with our relationship with other people, the outside world and the greater spiritual world. This progression naturally happens gradually, as we mature as individuals, and shift our focus from primarily being on ourselves, to other people, society and the world, and to our spiritual life.

It may also happen in sudden bursts when the ‘kundalini’ energy stored in the bottom or base chakra moves strongly up the Central Channel, activating one or more of the main chakras. This can create quick expansions in consciousness, which can be ecstatic, but can also be challenging to adjust to, and incorporate into one’s daily sense of self and way of life.

The meridians are lines of energy flow that travel both close to the surface of the body, roughly between the skin and the muscles, and more deeply into the internal tissues and organs.

There are 12 ‘classical meridians’, that are each associated with a particular internal organ such as the liver or bladder. Each of these meridians has a portion running over the outside of the body, and an internal portion running through the internal organs. One way of using the meridians is to stimulate the portion running over the body with pressure, acupuncture needles or moxa to have an affect on the internal portion and the organs they run through. How fantastic to have a way of working on the outside of the body to help the lungs, heart, stomach etc!

These 12 meridians are symmetrical, with identical meridians on the left and right sides of the body. There are also 8 ‘extraordinary’ meridians, which we will not be studying on the First Year course.

Of course these meridians must be connected with the other energy systems like the Central Channel and chakras. Michio Kushi likens the Central Channel to the trunk of a tree, and the meridians to the branches, taking Ki from the centre out to all the cells and functions of the body. Chinese diagrams of the internal pathways of the meridians clearly show them connecting with the location of the chakras.

The air contains Ki, and we naturally breathe this Ki into the body to energise it. We can consciously direct this Ki from our breath into particular parts of the body, including chakras. The most effective way of doing this is to use the ‘connected cyclic breathing’ method used in rebirthing, where the inbreath and outbreath are the same length, with no pause between the two, making a continuous cycle of breathing. By breathing through the mouth, more Ki is brought into a particular chakra.

Exercise to experience each main chakra

Sit with your spine straight, so that Ki can easily move up and down it. Choose a particular chakra and direct your inbreath into it, on your outbreath just relax, don’t forcibly push Ki outwards.

Take your breath into one chakra for 4 or 5 minutes, and observe what happens in that chakra, and how you feel in your whole body and being. See if you can ‘get into’ and experience the particular energy and feelings in this chakra.

You can go through all 7 main chakras, to experience how they affect different parts of the body, and hold different emotions, feelings and awareness. You can also focus your breath on just one chakra for 20 to 60 minutes, to strongly energise this chakra. This can produce some strong effects, you may feel the energy moving around your body, you may contact old emotions held in this part of the body, and various other effects. This can be used to clear old stuck thoughts, beliefs and emotions held in the body, to ‘cleanse’ and free yourself of them, to feel lighter and freer.

BASE CHAKRA

Strong sense of ‘I’, of self, of being alive and in your body, in this life and world with your feet on the ground.

Ask yourself, ‘do I have a strong sense of self?’

SACRAL CHAKRA

Sense of your body, of being in your body, of enjoying your body and wanting to move it, feel it, express it. Feeling your bodily desires for food, sex, warmth, exercise etc.

Ask yourself, ‘do I feel connected to my body and its needs?’

SOLAR PLEXUS

Sense your emotions, your feelings in relation to other people, your expression of emotions to others, being received by others.

Ask yourself, ‘do I express my emotions to others?’

HEART

Feeling love in your heart, love towards others, also towards yourself. Feeling a compassionate connection to others as well as to yourself.

Ask yourself, ‘do I feel love towards others and myself?’

THROAT

Sense of being the place where you express your ideas, thoughts, creativity, through words, singing, art, making things etc.

Ask yourself, ‘do I express who I am to the world?’

Sense of seeing the world, how it is, seeing clearly what is happening in your life and others lives, seeing the truth of how things are in the world. Possibly clairvoyant or clairaudient, seeing or hearing the invisible to gain a deeper knowing of how things are.

Ask yourself, ‘do I see my life clearly?’

CROWN

Sense of being connected to everything, of not having a boundary between yourself and everything outside of yourself, feeling oneness, deep peacefulness and inner contentment for no reason.

Ask yourself, ‘do I feel connected to spirit?’

Take some time on your own or talking to a partner, to reflect on how your 7 main chakras felt, which ones you could contact easily, and were there chakras that you found difficult to contact? Did some feel more pleasant to you, or unpleasant? Which chakras do you feel you spend a lot of time in, and which do you ignore or spend less time in? Which chakra do you feel is most in need of healing right now?

BOOK REFERENCES

The Book of Macrobiotics – Michio Kushi. Japan Publications. The Hip Chick’s Guide to Macrobiotics – Jessica Porter

YIN AND YANG DEFINITIONS

YANG YIN

GENERAL EXAMPLES

‘sunny side of hill’ ‘shady side of hill’ light darkness day night sun moon summer winter dry wet south north east west activity rest faster slower growth decay life death time space heat cold warm colours cool colours Heaven’s energy Earth’s energy downward motion upward motion contraction expansion matter energy small, dense objects large, expanded objects

contraction expansion downward movement upward movement material immaterial matter energy interior exterior solid organs hollow organs greater density less density round forms elongated forms

CLASSICAL CHINESE DEFINITIONS

expansion contraction upward movement downward movement immaterial material energy matter exterior interior hollow organs solid organs elongated forms round forms

YIN AND YANG OF PARTS OF THE BODY

YANG YIN

head body body limbs back front left side right side arms legs bones organs muscles skin solid organs hollow organs arteries veins blood vessels lymphatic vessels thumb fingers

YANG YIN

rock / minerals water animals plants mammals, birds, reptiles amphibians, crustaceans, fish, shellfish plant seeds, roots, stems, leaves fruits, flowers land vegetables sea vegetables grow in colder climate grow in hotter climate grow in winter grow in summer grow downwards grow upwards smaller size larger size rounder longer growing slower growing (expanding) faster more solid more watery grow horizontally above ground growing horizontally below ground plant fibre plant juices eg. vegetable and fruit juices

LIFE FACTORS MAKING US MORE YIN OR YANG

YANG YIN

activity rest work play less sleep more sleep cold climates warm climates winter summer physical work mental work responsibilities fewer responsibilities challenges/difficulties lack of challenges/difficulties having children having no children living in city living in country cold showers/baths hot showers/baths eating less eating more eating simply eating richly eating more salt and eating more refined foods, sugar, animal foods spices, alcohol, stimulants eating cooked foods eating raw foods

YANG YIN

don’t be lazy fear of life perfectionist want to please others all the time have to be capable fear of conflict shoulder too much responsibility withdraw from body, and from life

YIN AND YANG OF FOODS

YANG YIN

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

high in sodium high in potassium warming cooling ‘heavy’ ‘light’ energy-giving energy-depleting (may be stimulating at first) tension-forming relaxing

PLANT EXTRACTS/ SALT & WHOLE ESSENCES & MILK ANIMAL FOODS PLANT FOODS PRODUCTS

TROPICAL FRUITS SALT FISH GRAINS SUGAR & VEGETABLES

EGGS SEAFOOD BEANS HONEY

MEAT MISO SEEDS HERBS WINE, SPIRITS

POULTRY SALTY NUTS VEGETABLE OILS SPICES

HARD CHEESES SEASONINGS VEGETABLES GRAIN-BASED ALCOHOL STIMULANTS

eg. TEA, COFFEE, eg. SHOYU FRUITS GRAIN SWEETENERS CAROB, COCOA

MISO SEA VEGETABLES FRUIT JUICE JUICE

BOUILLON VEGETABLES HERB TEAS CREAM, YOGHURT

BUTTER GRAIN COFFEE MILK

TWIG TEA SOYA MILK

MARGARINE

EXAMPLES OF UNHEALTHY DIETS

25% 20% 10% 20% 25%

5% 5% 60% 10% 20%

35% 10% 20% 10% 25%

A DIET WITH HEALTHY PROPORTIONS OF YANG AND YIN FOODS

2-5% 5-10% 70-80% 5-10% 2-5%

YANG YIN

PHYSICAL EFFECTS

deep tension surface tension / shaking stiffness flexibility high muscle tone low muscle tone excess energy lack of vitality excessive sexual drive deficient sexual drive loud voice soft voice

PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS

EXPRESSION

domineering submissive insensitivity to others over-sensitive aggressive defensive over-confident under-confident self-assertive self-denying exclusion of others dependency on others

ATTITUDES AND THINKING

stubborn, dogmatic lack of conviction or firm views too grounded, materialistic up in the air, impractical inability to accept others’ views overly impressionable obsessed by order lack of orderliness overly concerned with past overly concerned with future denial of philosophical and denial of practical and spiritual aspects of life material aspects of life

Excess of both extreme yin and yang foods and lifestyle influences produces a mixture of both lists of effects.

centredness – expressiveness, openness grounded – creative vitality – flexibility practical living – mentally creative strength – relaxed logical thinking – intuitive thinking scientific – artistic creativity good focus / concentration – broad thinking confident – sensitivity

EXAMPLES OF MORE BALANCED FOODS

A basic shopping list of foods is shown with an *

FISH & SEAFOOD GRAINS

bass Whole grains cod *short grain brown rice haddock medium grain brown rice herring long grain brown rice flounder Basmati rice ling pot barley plaice pearl barley sardines *millet sole corn on the cob sprats whole oats (oat groats) salmon whole wheat, spelt trout buckwheat crab rye, quinoa lobster mussels Soft flour products oysters *rolled oats prawns cous cous shrimp Bulgar wheat

noodles *pasta spaghetti corn meal semolina

Dry flour products various breads crackers oat cakes

BEANS AND BEAN PRODUCTS DRINKS

aduki beans *three year twig tea (bancha or chickpeas Kukicha) blackeyed Yannoh (a good quality grain coffee) kidney Barleycup (an instant grain coffee) *lentils, green, brown or red *Caro (an instant grain coffee) haricot green tea soya dandelion coffee lima traditionally made beers pinto *apple juice split peas Rooibos tea (a non-caffeinated tea *tofu from the ‘red bush’ in South Africa tempeh soya milk (sugar-free) oat milk or rice milk

SEEDS AND NUTS NATURAL SWEETENERS

*pumpkin seeds barley malt (malt extract) sesame seeds *rice syrup sunflower seeds corn syrup *almonds concentrated apple juice chestnuts fruit spreads hazelnuts sugar-free jam peanuts walnuts

peanut butter *arame (thin black strips) sesame spread dulse (red fronds) sunflower spread hiziki (thick black strips, strong taste) *tahini (crushed sesame seeds, kelp (called kombu in Japanese) traditional in Greece) nori (flat sheets used for making sushi) *wakame (flat fronds, good for soups) *agar agar flakes (for making jellies)

SEASONINGS CONDIMENTS

*sea salt black pepper *shoyu soy sauce sesame salt (gomasio) tamari soy sauce natural mustards *miso, white, rice or barley sugar-free tomato sauce rice vinegar vegan pesto *grated root ginger sugar-free horseradish herbs naturally fermented and sugar-free garlic sauerkraut and gherkins lemon juice bay leaves

SNACKS

rice cakes roasted seeds or nuts *popcorn (home-made) corn crackers oat cakes sugar-free lollies, sweets and bars

Our daily food is the main way we create health, and it is worth spending some time each day planning and cooking good food for ourselves. If we do this, the rest of our lives go well, and we will rarely become sick. Many people have busy lives, but it is easy to fit in cooking twice a day – making a simple breakfast, and then in the evening (or for some people at lunchtime) spending longer making a varied meal. You can cook extra of most dishes so you have some left-overs for your supper or lunch the next day, so you have healthy food without cooking again.

Do you eat more YANG foods and how does it make you feel in your body?

Do you eat more YING foods and how does it make you feel in your body?

Look at the food you are eating – is there life-force, aliveness or does it seem stagnant?

Go to your Workbook and Homework to dive deeper into a self-inquiry.