Part 4: Share your knowledge far and wide.

Now that you have gathered some information, done a little analysis and perhaps even changed your behavior, let’s talk about the implications of this.

Reading your body like a book makes you more aware of what the various parts of your body are communicating. Perhaps you see now that the parts (tongue, feces, skin, mood) can’t stop communicating with your powers of observation. It’s just always already there.  The parts are making up a picture of the whole.  Your body is creating a moment-by-moment picture of your integrated system. That moment-by-moment picture is holistic in nature. The parts you are noticing are giving you access to the whole.

Here is something you already know : whole = holistic. I know. Duh. When you have a holistic assessment of your organism you are more likely to make choices towards greater dynamic balance. Ignorance of the whole = suffering, and it also = disease. Here is an example from my inbox last week:

“I have to share a funny story with you, my 4 year old

(see photo of Kristin Arieta, now famous for her) has struggled with chest congestion and asthmaand is really not yet interested in veggies…as well, not so keen on drinking water…sooo, I thought, one glorious morning, that perhaps we should discuss color of pee…her’s was adark yellow and she was also overcoming a cold at the time, so we talked about how dark pee means that she needs to drink more waterso that her body can heal itself—everyday since then I got a report and everyday she has requested water (can you believe it?)….today, the big announcement came that her pee pee was almost clear and miraculously, her cough was all gone, she was soo incredibly proud of herself.she has also been eating the 2 veggies that she will eat corn and “idaho baked potatoes (haha, couldn’t resist)…anyhow, that really connected with me on how early I can help her to start reading and listening to her body thanks to you!” Tricia Arieta, Plymouth, MA Sept.. 10 2010.

And thanks to you, Tricia.
And you, my reader, thought this “read a body like a book series” was all about you. It’s not. It’s about being the change so that others who have less access to information than you (children, elderly, less affluent) can have that same access through your more integrated, awake and aware being.

Body Experiment

Being interested in your own body-as-science-lab-experiment is the best place to start gathering raw data into the nature of reality. The gems are in the details, the gunas I mentioned in part 3 (review below). The gunas (characteristics) are how you translate the words into deeper meaning).

Take a moment. Check in with the following:

• how was your bowel movement today?
• what is your pee like today (dark, light)?
• Was your tongue coated this morning? Very coated?
• how do you feel in your skin? Are you dull or glowy?
• how is your mood? (heavy or light, serious or fun?
• What is the complete picture of your organism?

Now, take another moment. What 3 things should you do before the end of the day to move to more holistic, dynamic balance?

1. ________________________________________
2. ________________________________________
3. ________________________________________

Now, if you live with another person (child, partner, parent, friend), what have you noticed about them today? What are 3 simple ways you can bring harmonious balance to your evening together?
(This one is more difficult because some of us are apprehensive about getting involved in other’s choices. Maybe think of it this way: your husband has been grumpy lately. You think late dinners and alcohol aren’t helping. How do you design your evening and even your word choice with this in mind?)

1. ___________________________________
2. ___________________________________
3. ___________________________________

Nice work. Now you’ll be able to spot self-sabotage a mile away. With your investigation, awareness, and proactive planning you’ve taken action towards greater dynamic balance. I teach from a holistic perspective, which means that as you become more awake and healthy, the whole does. Tricia and her 4 year old figured that out. Notice how Tricia’s learning affected her daughter’s experience? Holistic also means more concerned about the whole. For parents this transfers to more informed concern about the health of the family organism. For holistic families this means greater concern for our communities (local and global). So does that mean how great your poop is affects the world? Well, that depends if you use the amazing energy you have and apply that amazing energy to guide the world into deeper order and an even more magnificent expression of consciousness evolving.

How to Diagnose Yourself

If we start to see the qualities (gunas) of the body as a spectrum with opposite polarities then we have a way to measure and move

towards balance.

Here are a few of the spectrums: oily-dry spectrum, hot-cold spectrum, heavy-light spectrum, subtle-dense spectrum, etc. There are 10 main spectrums we use to diagnose so that we can shift into a deeper expression of ecstatic living.

The most basic rule of thumb in Ayurveda is “Like increases Like; Opposites reduce each other.” Duh, I know. But if you know how to read the opposites, the “duh” becomes a  “do” – a call to action.

For Cate’s Healthier Kids Workshop: Click Here.