Pranic Therapy – Part 5: Biorhythms, the Immune System and Holistic Health
By G. Kumar
“The Unified Field of Einstein is the Brahman of the Vedists and the Tao of the Chinese”, says Dr Fritjof Capra in his famous book” The Tao of Physics”. The Vedists called this Unitary Power by the name Prana. This Cosmic Energy can be used to heal and healing via this Cosmic Prana came to be known as Pranic Therapy.This article is a continuation of the earlier article Pranic Therapy Part IV.
Attunement to Biorhythms
Along with regulation of food, sleep, exercise and relaxation, the spiritual aspirant should learn to attune his psychosomatic machine to his own biorhythms. “Biological clocks” were discovered in animals in the late 1950s & Bio- rhythms were understood as a result. When the Moon rose (which caused the flow of tide), mussels and crabs which live on seashores were found to open their shells or become active even when they were moved to a distant place. “Circadian rhythms” in the human body were discovered later.
There are daily biorhythms, lunar rhythms and solar rhythms.
Circadian Rhythms
It was found that level of sugar in the blood, body temperature, BP, production of hormones and enzymes changed according to a cyclic, regular and recurrent pattern. While some have 24 or 25 hour cycles others have 36 or 48 hour cycles. Even emotional sensitivity and intellectual creativity increase and decrease according to biorhythms, apart from physiological activities.
Lunar Rhythms
In the case of lunar people the 11th day of the lunar month (Ekadasi) or the day of the full moon (Pournami) or the day of the New Moon (Amavasi) may act as the pivotal point of change in their biorhythms. Some people have 28 day cycles irrespective of the movement of the Moon.
Solar Rhythms
The Appollonians (as the solar people are called ) are more sensitive to changes of solar seasons than the lunarian changes. With the onset of winter, spring, summer and autumn they may find profound changes taking place in their physiological processes and mental activity.
The existence of these biorhythms were confirmed by research even though superficial minds may not be able to detect these biorhythms. A spiritual aspirant should recognise his biorhythms and adjust his prayer, meditation and activities in accordance with these rhythms. Minor stomach upsets, pain in joints, disturbed sleep, change of mood, etc., are associated with biorhythms and the seeker should not be upset by these minor changes.
Why holistic health practices fail or succeed partially
Main reason for the failure of holistic health practices is that Prana or Life Energy does not flow freely within the individual or between the individual and the universal life, owing to the presence of obstructions within.These obstructions are caused by Samskaras, psychic memories or residual traces of our past actions and experiences. Samskaras are of two kinds, those which only produce memories (smriti) of past experiences and those which produce impulses or drives to repeat these experiences (vasanas). These two are interlinked to form complex patterns of love, hate, fear etc. It is these complexes that obstruct the free flow of Life-Energy in us.
Removing Mental Blocks
Many of these complexes are formed in childhood and adolescence. When unpleasant or traumatic experiences take place, the tendency of a child or teenager is to repress them. Repression is a form of pushing the psychic memories into the unconscious regions of the mind. The growing youth may not be able to recollect those psychic memories again, but the repressed samskaras lodged in the hidden recesses of the unconscious go on creating psychological and psychosomatic problems for him.
All psychosomatic disorders cannot be cured by holistic health techniques unless these repressed complexities are ferreted out and confronted. The past samskaras should be deactivated. For this the seeker has to dive deep into his unconscious and encounter the past experiences and deactivate them.
Most people find it difficult to do it without the active help of a competent guide. Those who depend on the Ocean of Consciousness (the Absolute or God) may , however, find that these inner blocks are removed by Divine Grace. This is the rationale behind faith healing and miraculous cures.
Extension of Consciousness
Life, a gift from the Divine, is a great healing power. Nothing ever begins to be; Substance merely undergoes a parallel transformation into conditions which pre-existed in other conditions. Life, similarly, does not begin to be. As Energy, as per the Law of Conservation of Energy or Matter cannot be created or destroyed, so too is Life Eternal.
At the physical level,the eternal healing power of life manifests itself as
Self-renewal
The immune system
For many years it has been known that the body can filter and re-use its fluids and repair damages to tissues, especially skin and bone, by growing new cells. Modern Science has shown that self-renewal is constantly taking place in every part of the body. Almost all the cells in the body are constantly being replaced by new ones. Somebody said ” I am not the same person I was one year ago”! The entire body gets renewed in this way every year and this shows that it is never too late to regain your health. By changing one’s basic attitudes and way of living, the damage to the body caused by years of misuse and neglect can be overcome.
One the great marvels of the universe is the human immune system. Those who are aware of the biochemical processes going on in the body will agree with Walt Whitman, “To me every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle”. Dr Walter Cannon said, “The Wisdom of the body is the most precise of all selective refinements!”
The Components (Four Units) of our Immune System
The fourfold immune system consists of the following units;
- The granulocyte-macrophage unit
- The lymphocyte unit
- The antibody unit
- The complement unit
The first two are varieties of white blood corpuscles, wherein the last two are chemicals, proteins. All the four units of our immune system launch a concerted attack on the invaders as soon as a few bacteria break into any tissue in the body. (The antibody unit has been defined as an army of one million.) Western medical science is wondering who masterminds this attack or who plans these strategies. Common sense, logic, intuition and experience suggest that somewhere behind all this there must be a master control. Why do sometimes cells become malignant and attack neighbouring cells? Why it goes awry, sometimes, when our defence units attack innocent cells mistaking them for enemy microbes? Western medical science is researching hard to find answers to these difficult questions.
