What are chakras - In Ayurvedic medicine, the seven regions, “focuses,” or “circles” of the body that fol­low the body’s midline and represent the specific energy and physical, emotional, and spiritual char­acteristics of each part. Chakra is the Sanskrit word for “wheel.” Located along the central axis of the body, from the crown of the head to the root of the spine, the chakras govern not only physical func­tioning but mental consciousness that promotes awareness, personal evolution, and healing.

What are chakras

The first chakra, or root chakra, is centered on the anus, the base of the spine, the descending colon, and the hamstrings; it represents basic sur­vival instincts, security, groundedness, and fears, including annihilation, abandonment, and other types of primal upheaval. The second chakra, the genital or sexual chakra, consists of the gonads, the urogenital structures, prostate, pelvis, and quadri­ceps, and represents gender, issues of commitment, sexuality, sensuality, and procreation. The solar plexus, or third chakra, incorporates the abdomen, the entire region around the navel, stomach, duo­denum, ileum, pancreas, liver, and adrenal glands; it contains the largest portion of nerve tissue after that of the cranium and spinal cord. Emotionally, the solar plexus represents overall physical vitality and mastery.

What are chakras

The fourth, or heart, chakra, is the area just above the diaphragm in the area of the heart. Its main representations are nurturing, love for others.

What are chakras – compassion, connection, and the core or center of one’s being. Just above the heart chakra is the throat (including the larynx, pharynx, and thyroid gland), or fifth, chakra, which symbolizes commu­nication, self-expression, and creativity. The sixth chakra, consisting of the eyes, pineal gland, and sinuses, governs intellect, perception, and intuitive qualities and is often referred to as the “third eye.” The crown of the head, or seventh chakra, func­tions as a conduit for spiritual consciousness or the source of one’s spiritual aura. Each chakra is also associated with an element such as air, water, ether, fire, or earth and with certain colors.

In the practice of Ayurveda, yoga, homeopathy, Reiki, and other disciplines, manipulating the ener­gies of the chakras plays an important role in the healing process.

Cell therapy is the injection of healthy animal cells or extracts of cells, usually from fetal sheep or pigs, into tlie human bloodstream in an attempt to fight various diseases, impotence, and aging; promote healing; and generally benefit the immune system and overall well-being. Cell therapy is a still-controversial treat­ment developed during the 1930s by the Swiss physician Paul Niehans, who specialized in gland and organ transplantation, the original cell therapy has been banned in the United States since 1985 because of its potential for allergic reactions, infec­tions, and ineffectiveness. However, cell therapy is practiced in Germany, France, Mexico, the Bahamas, and Switzerland. Studies are under way in the United States, Germany, and England to determine the effectiveness of human-to-human cell transplantation, and the use of shark embryo cells, human stem cells, and dendritic cells for the treatment of certain cancers, acquired immunode­ficiency syndrome (AIDS), impotence, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, burns, arthritis, spinal injuries, heart disease, and diabetes.

According to the second edition of Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide (Berkeley, Calif.: Celes­tial Arts, 2002), “Cell therapy is particularly excit­ing for conditions that involve cells that do not repair or regenerate well, such as the brain and heart, offering new hope for persons suffering from extensive damage in those organs. . . . The broad­est definition of cell therapy includes the use of human blood transfusions and bone marrow trans­plants as well as injections of cellular materials . . . from organs, fetuses, or embryos of animals, or the transplantation of human stem cells, to stimulate healing and treat a variety of degenerative diseases. . . . Several schools of thought exist as to the ideal practice of cell therapy. The various methods include the use of live cells, freeze-dried cells, cells from specific organs, homeopathic formulations, and embryonic preparations. All these techniques for cell therapy have been used successfully, with different meth­ods targeting different conditions.”

A contemporary version of Niehans’s cell therapy involves the use of antibodies or freeze-dried cells and pretesting to determine possible hypersensitiv­ity in a patient. There are four main cell types used in combination for revitalization as well as treat­ment of a specific disease or malfunction: pituitary, liver, male or female reproductive glands, and con­nective tissue, plus cells from a particular organ or body structure that corresponds with the patient’s needs.

Cell salts – The ground material of mineral com­pounds that are produced naturally by the body, such as Natrum muriaticum, or sodium chloride (table salt). In a homeopathic remedy, one part salt must be ground with nine parts lactose, or milk sugar, to make Natrum mur lx (x equals 10). This cell salts may be used to treat the symptoms of hay fever, for example. A cell-salts remedy made from calcium fluoride, which is found in fibers throughout the body, is used to treat hemorrhoids, varicose veins, hernias, and other problems. According to home­opaths, the more times cell salts are ground, or trit­urated, the greater their potency. The cell-salt system, also known as tissue salts, and remedies were first developed by the German physician W. H. Schuessler, M.D., who wrote An Abridged Ther­apy Manual for the Biochemical Treatment of Disease (Calcutta: Haren & Brother, 1st Indian ed., 1960), which was in its 25th edition in 1987. Schuessler(cell salts) believed that as natural medicine, cell salts are not only harmless because they are not substances for­eign to the body, but beneficial in the treatment of a range of both acute and chronic problems. He uti­lized calcium, sodium, iron, magnesium, and potassium salts to develop a 12-salt system (long before the discovery of trace minerals such as zinc and selenium). The 12 cell salts are calcium fluoride (Calc fluor is the homeopathic designation), cal­cium phosphate (Calc phos), calcium sulfate (Calc sulph), ferric phosphate (Ferrum phos), potassium chloride (Kali mur), potassium sulfate (Kali sulph), potassium phosphate (Kali phos), magnesium phosphate (Mag phos), sodium chloride (Nat mur), sodium phosphate (Nat phos), sodium sulfate (Nat sulph), and silicic acid/silica (Silicea).

Schuessler (cell salts) also believed that cell-salt remedies catalyze natural biochemical reactions in the body and reorganize or balance them so any malfunc­tioning tissues can function normally. A homeopath must correctly identify which bodily tissues require specific treatment before prescribing a cell-salt rem­edy. Each type of salt acts a certain way. For instance, sulfur serves to help the body express, or throw off, an unwanted substance, and sodium attracts water. In combination, they may be used as a remedy for edema, the abnormal retention of water in the ankles, legs, hands, and other parts of the body. Among other ailments that may be treated homeopathically by cell salts are fever, hem­orrhage, infections, mucus congestion, inflamma­tion, sinusitis, colds, coughs, bronchitis, backache, colic, irritable bowels, bloating, gynecological prob­lems, muscle spasms and cramps, teething pain, nodules, hernia, anxiety, depression, and insomnia.

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Cayce, Edgar Known as “the sleeping prophet,” a psychic (1877-1945) who in 1931 founded the Association for Research and Enlightenment, Inc. (A.R.E.), in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Edgar Cayce was a photographer, gardener, Sunday School teacher, and father of two. To date he is the subject of approximately 12 biographies and is discussed in more than 300 other books for his ability to enter a sleeplike state, during which he gave information to individuals throughout the world who had life-threatening illnesses, questions, or problems.

Reports say Edgar Cayce would lie down on his couch, fold his hands over his stomach, close his eyes, and, with a person’s name and location provided to him, offer answers to that person about his or her situa­tion. Frequently he made a lifesaving diagnosis in cases that stumped the medical community. A stenographer would write as Cayce spoke, and one copy of his “reading” was sent to the person and another was kept in his personal files. The A.R.E. holds more than 14,000 readings, which are made available to the public for research. The readings— considered sources of what is now called holistic, or mind-body, medicine—are being studied by med­ical professionals, theologians, educators, scientists, and others, including a professor and fellow of the American Physical Society who pointed out a con­nection between the elementary-particle theory and Cayce’s psychic access to information that could not possibly have been available to him in a conventional way.

According to the article “Sleeping prophet’s legacy lives on in Virginia Beach,” by Victor Zak in the February 23, 1997 issue of the Asbury Park Press, “Edgar Cayce demonstrated powers of clairvoyance at a young age that seemed to extend beyond the five normal senses. He told his parents that he saw and communicated with ‘visions,’ some of whom were deceased relatives. He reportedly had a pho­tographic memory that enabled him to absorb, through osmosis, the content of school books while sleeping on them. Edgar Cayce’s education was brief: he went to work after completing seventh grade. At age 21, he developed a throat malady that para­lyzed his vocal cords and made him lose his voice. When medical doctors couldn’t find a cause or remedy, he sought help from a hypnotist. While under hypnosis, Edgar Cayce reportedly diagnosed his ailment and prescribed a treatment in precise, medical terms, later verified by medical investiga­tors. After following the course of treatment, his voice returned.

“Edgar Cayce became a national phenomenon,” Zak wrote. “In 1910, the New York Times ran a story with the headline ‘Illiterate man becomes a doctor when hypnotized-strange power shown by Edgar Cayce puzzles physicians.’ As word about his unusual ability spread, people came from near and far, asking Cayce to perform psychic ‘readings’ and prescribe treatments for their ailments. ‘What we think and what we eat, combined together, make what we are physically and mentally,’ Cayce said during a 1934 reading. His remedies were holistic, often involving diet and massage.”

More information and bibliography on Edgar Cayce are available by contacting A.R.E., Inc., 215 67th Street, Virginia Beach, VA 23451, or at (757) 428-3588 or (800) 333-4499, or http://www.edgar-cayce.org/edgar-caycel.html.

The Reverand Solanus Casey is a Franciscan priest of the Capuchin Order who has been credited as a healer of hopeless cases. Born Bernard Casey on a Wisconsin farm on November 25, 1870, The Reverand Solanus Casey began working odd jobs at age 17 to sup­plement the family’s income after they experienced financial difficulties attributable to crop failures. At 21, however, The Reverand Solanus Casey entered St. Francis Seminary High School in Milwaukee, and in 1896 he was called to the Capuchin Order, in which he was given the name Solanus. Once ordained in 1904, The Reverand Solanus Casey worked at Sacred Heart Parish in Yonkers, New York, mainly as doorkeeper and sacristan because he was not highly regarded for his scholar­ship. But the sick and troubled of the parish began to notice his gift for healing and made a point to ask for his prayers for themselves and their loved ones. He also worked at Our Lady of Sorrows in Manhat­tan and Our Lady of the Angels in the city’s Harlem section; at both parishes, The Reverand Solanus Casey made a last­ing impression as a worker of miracles. Appointed to the Capuchin Friary of St. Bonaventure in Detroit, Michigan, in 1924, he became well known and was the inspiration of the Detroit Capuchins to establish their soup kitchen, still in operation today. He con­tinued his ministry to the sick and the poor even after he was sent for retirement to the Friary of St. Felix in Huntington, Indiana, in 1946. When he himself became ill, he returned to Detroit, where he died July 31, 1957. His grave is located at Detroit’s St. Bonaventure Monastery.

Cleansing broth,  Clear broths and hot tonics used during a cleansing fast. Broths of onion, miso, garlic, scallion, apple, carrot, potato, and other ingredients, are geared toward balancing body pH and are alkalizing agents. Hot tonics are not broths or teas, but hot drinks made from veg­etables, fruits, and spices that have energizing properties. Tonic: are meant to revitalize, clear nasal and sinus passages, provide nutrition, create body heat to ward off aches and chills, and fight a hangover. A cold and flu tonic, for example, may be made by combining garlic, cumin powder, black pepper, hot mustard powder, water, turmeric, sesame salt, fresh cilantro, and cooked split peas. cleansing broth

Bowen Method is a hands-on modality designed to balance and positively affect the autonomic ner­vous system, developed in the 1950s by the Aus­tralian lay healer Thomas Bowen. With the fully clothed patient lying prone on a padded table, Bowen advocated a series of moves such as pulling the skin away from a muscle or tendon, then applying gentle pressure, and eventually allowing the specific structure to spring back into its original position. Bowen developed for Bowen Method certain patterns for three sets of moves to treat lower back, upper back, and neck problems. Other moves are also added to accommodate the patient’s particular health prob­lem. Treatment sessions vary from 20 to 45 min­utes. Bowen Method is also used to provide benefit to individuals with gastrointestinal disorders, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, headaches, respira­tory ailments, sports- and work-related injuries, and other conditions. Patients have reported that symptoms subsided, and that anger and depression were reduced, after treatments. A variation of Bowen’s therapy, known as the Neurostructural Integration Technique (NST), emerged in 1995. Bowen Method it was developed by Michael Nixon-Livy, who wanted to systematize the Bowen Method in order to train health professionals.

Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy is a technique for the relief of pain based on the use of manual pres­sure on areas of the body known as “trigger points,” developed by Bonnie Prudden, a veteran authority on physical fitness and exercise therapy and author of Pain Erasure and Myotherapy (New York: Ballantine Books, 1980). Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy contributed to the establishment of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports during the 1950s. Trigger points, or places on the body where painful muscle spasm occurs, may be the result of trauma or injury, repetitive motion, prenatal injury, or child or sexual abuse and may be exacer­bated by the presence of disease, substance abuse, and the aging process. Although medication can break the spasm-pain-spasm cycle, Prudden’s method aims to eliminate the trigger points com­pletely by applying deep pressure on each point for five to seven seconds. The Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy also involves performing stretches and trigger-point sessions to prevent recurrence of muscle spasm, strains, sprains, dislocations, tension headaches, migraines, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) syndrome, hemor­rhoids, prostate muscle spasms, impotence, incon­tinence, arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, foot pain, leg cramps, and neck, shoulder, arm, hand, back, chest, and abdominal pain.

American herbalist Samuel Thomson started a movement of herbalism with legendary success. When 22-year-old Thomson’s young daughter contracted scarlet fever in 1791, and the doctor said he could not help her, Thomson pro­ceeded to use steam and warming drinks that broke her fever and cured her. In 1805, a yellow fever (or some other deadly fever) epidemic broke out, and Thomson’s patients survived as many others died. By 1839, there were 100,000 Thom-sonian practitioners registered in America, and a decade later the Eclectic Medical Institute emerged when physicians and herbalists decided to join forces. Several schools operated in major cities throughout the country from the late 19th century and into the 20th, but patent medicines rose as competitors that crushed the finances of the Eclec­tics. In Cincinnati, 1939, the last Eclectic Medical School closed forever. Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy

Bodywork is a Modern systems for relaxation, physi­cal therapy, stress reduction, and general muscu­loskeletal and emotional well-being. These bodywork include the following: the Alexander Technique; Feldenkrais Method; Trager Approach; Rolling; myofascial release; Aston-Patterning; Hellerwork; Barral visceral manipulation; Bowen Therapy; acu­pressure; acupuncture; massage; (Oriental body­work: Shiatsu, jin shinjyutsu); reflexology; Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy; bioenergetics; Therapeutic Touch; Healing Touch; Reiki; polarity therapy; Reichian therapy; hakomi; the Rosen Method; and the Rubenfeld Synergy Method.

Other bodywork techniques include baths, wraps, hydrotherapy, enemas, compresses, over­heating therapy, and any other form of a “laying on of hands” that is meant to facilitate a transfer of energy from one person to another for the purpose of healing. Bodywork rocks!

Body unit is a system of measurement that corre­sponds to the body’s acupuncture points. One body unit is equal to the width of the second joint of the thumb, and three body units is equal to the breadth of the second, third, fourth, and fifth fingers held together. Each major body segment has a certain number of body units. For example, five body units may be measured from the navel to the pubic bone, and 12 body units make up the area from the elbow crease to the wrist crease.

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