Golden Egg or Wild Goose Chase? How Asians and Westerners Think Differently and Why it Matters
Let thy food be thy medicine (Hippocrates)
The year I lived in Japan, a student whom I tutored gave me a book as a leaving present, which had the alluring, though fairly crude title, "The Geography of Thought: How East Asians and Westerners Think Differently… And Why". Written by US psychology professor, Richard E. Nisbett, it addresses the problem in the field of modern psychology, whereby academics frequently make universalist assumptions about a generic human condition. When challenged by a bright Chinese student, he realises study after study has in fact been conducted on Western subjects and more often than not, American psychology students. In the book, he attempts to define how Westerners and Asians have maintained very different systems of thought for thousands of years and how this influences the way people think and approach matters differently.
Nisbett discusses how education tends to be a one way street from West to East, "The past five hundred years of Western military, political and economic dominance have made the West intellectually arrogant". He asks the reader to consider the possibility that "another valid approach to thinking about the world exists and that it can serve as a mirror with which to examine and critique their own beliefs and habits of mind".
I brought the book with me because I remembered the brief mention of health. It stood out because there was a diagram of an ear with an explanation of how it relates to other parts of the body in Chinese acupuncture. It explained that the Chinese use amputation as a last resort - first considering the body part's relationship to the rest of the body. In the East, "Health was dependent on the balance of forces in the body and the relationships between its parts".
Nisbett explains that, "Many mainstream doctors accept some of the general notions of holistic medicine, even recommending ancient treatments in lieu of modern Western ones for ailments ranging from headache to nausea. More importantly, the need to treat the whole person rather than attack "the" problem has gained wide currency".
In the beginning, doctors said Chronic Fatigue Syndrome was psychological. What they meant was you're not really ill but you think you are and this sustains a long term sense of illness or physical weakness (article). They didn't even want to diagnose it since there was a belief this would lock it in place. Afraid there was truth in this, and because they said there was no "cure", I switched off from it; I didn't read anything about in case the condition stuck to me like glue. I downplayed it, never using the words chronic fatigue syndrome, and I couldn't even tell you what M.E. stands for.
Deep down however, this always seemed like a load of bollocks. You know these things intuitively, the way an expectant mother 8/10 times knows the sex of her unborn baby. I knew by the way my legs wouldn't move, even when I willed them to. I knew the way you know when you have a massive hangover and your body is tired and uncooperative that it's probably connected to the alcohol and not a figment of your imagination. I knew because in the face of all optimism, the condition weathered. I thought it would be over in six months, then one year, then two years. After the third year, my arms stopped working properly and for a brief time and my hands weren't gripping fully. Despite a doctor's previous assessment that I was "perfectly healthy", I sensed that if I didn't do something, the condition would eventually morph into something more serious.
I wondered why medical professionals make that assessment about this condition, but they don't say cancer is just in your head or sciatica is just in your head. There are several reasons:
1. They can't locate it. You can't see it through a microscope. It's not disease and blood tests tend to reveal a healthy range (in fact on private clinic inspection, recent tests revealed I was just low on everything).
2. Different people have different symptoms, ranging from joint pain, headaches and memory loss to nausea and sore throats.
3. It's triggered by different things for different people: the death of a loved one, a serious car accident, cancer, flu, long term stress...
It's understandable the medical community have found it a conundrum, but why make the astonishing claim that it's in patients' heads rather than believe them that they're ill, thereby discrediting the harrowing experience of thousands of people in the process, causing social ridicule (think Ricky Gervais' stand up) and stunting investigation into the illness? Meanwhile, social services busied themselves by investigating parents who were seen to be abusing their children by "making up" their illness, egging them on and prolonging their stupor. Western distrust of the senses in favour of logic actually dates back to Plato in 5th century BC with strong lasting implications today.
It just seemed like no one was thinking outside of the box. I held in the back of my mind that if the Asian approach is less concerned with seeing objects in isolation, understands the connectivity between different parts of the body (and therefore I hoped, symptoms) and is less obstructed by mind-body dualism, then I might find some of the answers I was looking for there, but I didn't know where.
It was more or less by chance that I came to the Ayurveda clinic at the Sivananda ashram in Kerela. I had been looking on their website at yoga when I saw the health institute and emailed a Dr. Vishnu. He replied, "for chronic fatigue syndrome I need two weeks". I still thought Ayurveda was about spa treatments, innocuous herbs, peculiar healthy eating and relaxing massages. As usual, I didn't quite know what I was getting myself in for.
The first few days at the Sivananda ashram, I just did whatever yoga I could manage while the doctor was away. The yogis had already offered far more advanced and compelling advice on natural healing than the doctors I'd seen at home, since one's best advice was, "why don't you go and lie down", and didn't ask about what food I was eating or suggest an enhanced diet and vitamin supplements might help (I could have had burgers, pizza and chips every day). As Ayurveda is linked to yoga, I was willing to believe it might offer some intelligence on how to enhance my body's natural healing capacity.
In my first consultation with Dr. Vishnu, I was surprised he didn't look dumbfounded by the condition - a response I'm of course used to as normal. I got the distinct impression he wasn't going to say something as stupid as "there's nothing wrong with you", but I was skeptical. He checked my pulse, asked me questions and after a few minutes he said casually, "you'll be on the course of Panchakarma treatments, you'll eat here, drink medicine every morning and afternoon and you'll be better in three months". He offered no further comment, shuffled his papers and I exited the room.
At first, I thought it was a joke or some kind of heroic effort at a placebo effect. But as the days rolled on, he didn't give any information about any of it, I didn't know what the foul watery bitter herbal medicine did, I supposed the massages were meant to be relaxing, but he didn't say, so I ruled out the "placebo only" supposition.
At meal times, I was seated with a super bunch of people in what was to become our "Panchakarma club". Those undergoing the two to three week detoxification treatment eat together in an open room surrounded by coconut trees and medicinal plants within the clinic. We ate the South Indian Ayurvedic food every day, which included lightly spiced beetroot soup, coconut rice and lentil curries. The others were from India and worldwide who either have minor health complaints or have made health and wellbeing a priority in their lives. In Switzerland, for example, it's more common for people to have heard of Panchakarma, with responses like, "Oooo, that's tough". I had no idea. At my first sitting, as we were doing introductions, the doctor came in and turned cheerfully to the girl I was talking to and asked, "how was your enema?" We all got to know each other pretty well in our more intimate circle away from the main ashram, not by knowing details about each others' lives, but rather our bodily functions.
After the first massage, I noticed the three wrinkles that had arrived on my thirtieth birthday had disappeared. But after a few days, I started to feel very weak, much, much weaker than the past weeks of travel. I stopped being able to do any yoga at all. I quickly became so weak that one morning after treatment, I crawled into bed and stayed there, hoping I wouldn't need the toilet because I wasn't sure how I would get to it. I was so exhausted I could only lie in the dormitory, too tired to hold a book or even listen to an audiobook - which requires energy to hear and process information and just becomes an added disturbance.
Lying there for a long time, hearing people walking past, talking and going to yoga, I've never felt so incapacitated. I took out the final tool from my box: yoga nidra. It is a form of relaxation yoga that lulls you into a deep meditative healing state and allows you to recharge. The practice slows your heart rate and stops the production of adrenaline and cortisol induced by exhaustive stress. Without deep relaxation, people with severe chronic fatigue can lie in bed their whole lives and never get better.
The doctor explained my liver was working hard to get rid of the toxins. What toxins? How could a massage have such a strong effect?
I wanted to know where his confidence came from, so I borrowed a book on Ayurvedic theory from a fellow patient who was undergoing the treatment at the same time as me entitled, "Ayurveda and Panchakarma: The Science of Healing and Rejuvenation" by Sunil V. Joshi M.D. (Ayu). It was a very dense book, but the doctor had given me a herbal jelly that made my brain run wild, so the whole thing became a real page turner. Quite soon in, my mind was blown by the complexity and intuitive nature of what I discovered was the world's oldest system of health, first written down five thousand years ago.
Preoccupation with my own condition aside, I've never found the contents of a book more fascinating, partly because it tugged and pawed at what I understand to be true (being abroad often does this in general), partly because I had no concept that the field of medicine had been so vast and complex before Western science - I thought people just swallowed herbs and hoped for the best... Partly because the methods they use to successfully diagnose and treat people is so bizarre and yet has so much relevance still today. I learnt that except for the advanced progression of diseases, panchakarma treatment can reverse many conditions and prevent illnesses from occurring. It listed disease after disease that had successfully been eliminated. I would barely be able to summarize the theory, it's too complex and different from the Western way of thinking and any attempt would make me sound batty. It's made further complex by the fact many of the terms cannot even be adequately translated into English.
Although Ayurveda has since been superseded by Western medicine in pace and precision, the part that interested me most was seeing how much modern science has also been "rediscovering" existent knowledge. Whilst British sailors suffered from scurvy in 1700s because the fundamentals of nutrition were not yet understood, Ayurvedic medicine had long held an accurate notion of a balanced diet (equal portion of healthy fats, protein and carbohydrate along with vitamins and minerals). A key component of Ayurvedic theory is the fact our gut has an "influencing intelligence" around the body. I heard a podcast recently talking about how scientists have just discovered our gut may be like a second brain, and Ayurvedic doctors have been saying it for millennia.
Without internet in the ashram, I wasn't able to check for counter material, but I have since been able to Google. The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), which is part of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) confirms that "Ayurveda has ability to treat many chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and asthma, which are untreatable in modern medicine. Unfortunately, due to undue skepticism and lack of scientific validation in various concepts, this precious gift from our ancestors is trailing. Hence, evidence-based research is highly needed for global recognition and acceptance of Ayurveda, which needs further advancements in the research methodology", see here.
Ayurveda's reliance on intuitive knowledge has allowed it to reach corners modern science wouldn't go to. But it is these same "unverified" tenets upon which successful treatment rests. From this point onward, what I am about to tell you is highly unreliable, but deliciously acceptable if you keep an open mind.
No one believes you are what you eat (including what you take in through sensory impressions as well as food) more than an Ayurvedic physician. Their whole theory of health and wellbeing derives from having a balanced diet and a balanced life (not too much stress, not too much inertia).
Joshi writes, "Worldwide, doctors generally agree that the majority of illnesses have psychosomatic origins - most diseases are caused or complicated by problems which arise in the mind, an aspect of human life that has no "real" objective reality". He comments that people are starting to realize Western medicine is limited by it's strictly body-based approach to health, "If it can be seen with the naked eye or the aid of a microscope, it is deemed to be real or have materiality".
Furthermore, "The miracle of the human body is that it has a natural healing intelligence which is capable of constantly rejuvenating itself", however, lack of balance in your life and diet, and weakened digestive capacity, allows toxic impurities to form, and this natural capacity of the body gets blocked, "By purifying the body of the degenerative influence of these foreign substances, thus frees it to exercise its inherent rejuvenative abilities".
Panchakarma is thus, "a comprehensive system of knowledge and practices to purify the body of toxins and restore it to balance". The author, who has trained in both allopathic (western medicine) and Ayurveda, states that, "In case after case, I watched panchakarma achieve complete remission of disease in patients who could not be helped by Western medicine. In addition, I saw how this science of purification and rejuvenation could take a person with relatively normal health and produce a dramatically greater state of health, happiness and fulfillment".
To give you a brief overview of Ayurvedic theories about the human body: they are derived from the natural world. Ayurvedic scientists reason that since the earth's matter is made of elements (air, water, fire, earth, and they have a fifth one, space) and since people are organic matter, then the same laws of nature must apply to the workings of the human body, "These elements are the basic building blocks of nature and are responsible for all physical existence." Joshi emphasizes that our translation of the elements is slightly different to their comprehension of them. The elements feature in the workings of the human body, for example, we have air in our lungs and dry matter in our stools and matter changes as it moves through the body. We have pitta (fire) in the stomach in order to metabolise food by combustion. The water gets separated from our stools etc. It says that in order for a person to be healthy they must have a balance of the elements. The elements are present in our food too which is why we must have a balanced diet and they have different properties, they're dry like air e.g. lentils or chilli causes a heat effect in the body like fire.
When energy comes again, it comes as excitement in your veins, and the voice in your head says, "use it, go on". As I planned my escape from the ashram, a girl started chattering away to me about youth hostels and parties and I could see she mistook me for someone she might have fun with. I just wanted to crawl into a nest in the hollowed out part of a tree and nap under the soft feathery belly of a giant bird.
The verdict
I wanted to know where his confidence came from, so I borrowed a book on Ayurvedic theory from a fellow patient who was undergoing the treatment at the same time as me entitled, "Ayurveda and Panchakarma: The Science of Healing and Rejuvenation" by Sunil V. Joshi M.D. (Ayu). It was a very dense book, but the doctor had given me a herbal jelly that made my brain run wild, so the whole thing became a real page turner. Quite soon in, my mind was blown by the complexity and intuitive nature of what I discovered was the world's oldest system of health, first written down five thousand years ago.
Preoccupation with my own condition aside, I've never found the contents of a book more fascinating, partly because it tugged and pawed at what I understand to be true (being abroad often does this in general), partly because I had no concept that the field of medicine had been so vast and complex before Western science - I thought people just swallowed herbs and hoped for the best... Partly because the methods they use to successfully diagnose and treat people is so bizarre and yet has so much relevance still today. I learnt that except for the advanced progression of diseases, panchakarma treatment can reverse many conditions and prevent illnesses from occurring. It listed disease after disease that had successfully been eliminated. I would barely be able to summarize the theory, it's too complex and different from the Western way of thinking and any attempt would make me sound batty. It's made further complex by the fact many of the terms cannot even be adequately translated into English.
Although Ayurveda has since been superseded by Western medicine in pace and precision, the part that interested me most was seeing how much modern science has also been "rediscovering" existent knowledge. Whilst British sailors suffered from scurvy in 1700s because the fundamentals of nutrition were not yet understood, Ayurvedic medicine had long held an accurate notion of a balanced diet (equal portion of healthy fats, protein and carbohydrate along with vitamins and minerals). A key component of Ayurvedic theory is the fact our gut has an "influencing intelligence" around the body. I heard a podcast recently talking about how scientists have just discovered our gut may be like a second brain, and Ayurvedic doctors have been saying it for millennia.
Without internet in the ashram, I wasn't able to check for counter material, but I have since been able to Google. The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), which is part of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) confirms that "Ayurveda has ability to treat many chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and asthma, which are untreatable in modern medicine. Unfortunately, due to undue skepticism and lack of scientific validation in various concepts, this precious gift from our ancestors is trailing. Hence, evidence-based research is highly needed for global recognition and acceptance of Ayurveda, which needs further advancements in the research methodology", see here.
Ayurveda's reliance on intuitive knowledge has allowed it to reach corners modern science wouldn't go to. But it is these same "unverified" tenets upon which successful treatment rests. From this point onward, what I am about to tell you is highly unreliable, but deliciously acceptable if you keep an open mind.
No one believes you are what you eat (including what you take in through sensory impressions as well as food) more than an Ayurvedic physician. Their whole theory of health and wellbeing derives from having a balanced diet and a balanced life (not too much stress, not too much inertia).
Joshi writes, "Worldwide, doctors generally agree that the majority of illnesses have psychosomatic origins - most diseases are caused or complicated by problems which arise in the mind, an aspect of human life that has no "real" objective reality". He comments that people are starting to realize Western medicine is limited by it's strictly body-based approach to health, "If it can be seen with the naked eye or the aid of a microscope, it is deemed to be real or have materiality".
Furthermore, "The miracle of the human body is that it has a natural healing intelligence which is capable of constantly rejuvenating itself", however, lack of balance in your life and diet, and weakened digestive capacity, allows toxic impurities to form, and this natural capacity of the body gets blocked, "By purifying the body of the degenerative influence of these foreign substances, thus frees it to exercise its inherent rejuvenative abilities".
Panchakarma is thus, "a comprehensive system of knowledge and practices to purify the body of toxins and restore it to balance". The author, who has trained in both allopathic (western medicine) and Ayurveda, states that, "In case after case, I watched panchakarma achieve complete remission of disease in patients who could not be helped by Western medicine. In addition, I saw how this science of purification and rejuvenation could take a person with relatively normal health and produce a dramatically greater state of health, happiness and fulfillment".
To give you a brief overview of Ayurvedic theories about the human body: they are derived from the natural world. Ayurvedic scientists reason that since the earth's matter is made of elements (air, water, fire, earth, and they have a fifth one, space) and since people are organic matter, then the same laws of nature must apply to the workings of the human body, "These elements are the basic building blocks of nature and are responsible for all physical existence." Joshi emphasizes that our translation of the elements is slightly different to their comprehension of them. The elements feature in the workings of the human body, for example, we have air in our lungs and dry matter in our stools and matter changes as it moves through the body. We have pitta (fire) in the stomach in order to metabolise food by combustion. The water gets separated from our stools etc. It says that in order for a person to be healthy they must have a balance of the elements. The elements are present in our food too which is why we must have a balanced diet and they have different properties, they're dry like air e.g. lentils or chilli causes a heat effect in the body like fire.
Central to Ayurvedic theory is the concept that your gut and brain (thereby personality) have traits in common, which together form part of your physiology or constitution. They manage to typecast people, which allows doctors to prescribe the treatment that's best for each individual. I've never considered that my personality, my dreams, my gut and the consistency of my stools might have connectivity, but in the Ayurveda quiz in the book, these seemingly unrelated aspects of a human being are jumbled together and form part of Ayurvedic methodology. If correct, it would explain why my brother's hair is thicker than mine, his temperament more mild, why he always slept so much more than me, why his build is different and he didn't lose much weight training for the marathon.
I didn't know what to make of it all, but when the trustee of the ashram finished his twenty one day treatment looking ten years younger, fit and ready to run a marathon in December, I asked the doctor if he thought I should do three weeks instead of two. But he said that it wasn't necessary and that I wasn't strong enough to take it.
My treatment
This part gets even nuttier. Be prepared to fly through it and enter the new world I've found myself in.
I was fascinated to read that the reason the oily massages, that you have for the first five days, make you so tired is that the coconut oil is mixed with bitter herbs and the oil seeps through your skin into your body and is rejected by your organs and tissues, which dislodges the "sticky" impurities.
I had understood that when I arrived I was quite sluggish (the conceptualization of the elements is all-encompassing: I demonstrated a kapha/earth imbalance affecting mind and body). Since I had read that change always happens sequentially from kapha (earth) to pitta (fire) to sattvic (balance), in order to treat me first, he gave me the herbal stimulant to move me into a pitta (fire) state. The doctor also later explained the rice bundle massage (your body is thumped with balls of rice and God knows what) is designed to do this too, it improves blood circulation and lymphatic function.
When we moved onto the purging stage, we had to drink a cup of ghee with herbs in it that's meant to empty your stomach in a gravitational direction. However, I sat feeling nauseous for nearly four hours. In the last two hours, you have to drink a cup of water every ten minutes. By the end, I threw up what seemed like about three to four litres of water. This confirmed what the doctor knew already - it's a kapha/earth problem - toxins in my body have accumulated in my stomach due to heavy kapha/earth foods (starch, dairy) that my weakened digestive system is not easily able to process. In the evening, after the detoxification purging, I felt like I was in ecstasy: my second brain was buzzing. Karl, who had lent me the book, turned to me and said, "I've never felt this way before", but it was his gut brain doing the talking.
My experience
The whole thing was hardcore to say the least. I experienced weakness that took me back to the time when all this started in Ghana. I didn't leave the compound in two and a half weeks, except once when I joined the group for weekly walking Satsang (meditation and singing). Down at the lake, after the songs had come to a close, I looked around for an arm to help me back up the hill, but they all belonged to strangers. By the following week I had grown even weaker and I went into the Hindu temple in the Ashram for the first time and gave turmeric rice offerings, flowers and milk to the gods. I gave up on yoga, though sometimes I joined for the pranayama (breathing exercises) and tried to go to one Satsang in the hall a day, where I enjoyed singing but was too exhausted to hold the percussion instruments for any length of time. You start to lose perception of what normal was like and this state becomes your new reality.
My bunk-mate got ill with a stomach bug and I had a buddy for a while stuck in the dormitory. When other people get bugs, they complain about their symptoms and exclaim how boring it is to lie in bed all day, and then "POW", just like magic, they better. Why did her body heal her unmedicated and mine didn't? Something is blocking me and I want to know what it is.
Surrendered to the dormitory, it was the most motivated I've ever been to read books, I was chomping through them messily like a dog at breakfast, conscientious about not joining in with the activities that gave the busy ashram an air of a holiday camp over a tranquil environment for quiet contemplation or healing. The lack of privacy meant I was perched on my bed in full view of everyone day after day, like some kind of art exhibit showcasing the concept of lazyness, while everyone exercised, worked and holidayed around me.
One time, I had a dream about a packet of rolos. The crisp gold packaging and surrounding paper outer layer slid open and inside a train of chocolate and toffee blocks. I ate one... and then before I knew it, I'd eaten them all and worried I'd ruined the whole treatment. One of the volunteers, who I'd already spoken to, shook me awake and demanded to know why I wasn't going to Satsang since the timetable is obligatory; I said I wasn't feeling well. Her tone was annoyed, "why you always sick? just lie in bed all day? You don't go to yoga, you don't go to lecture, you don't go to Satsang"... I could see her aggravation had been building as she emphatically stated every activity I had missed out on. She then made me get a sign that said panchakarma and stick it on my mosquito net, before sauntering off to join the rest of the Hitler Youth.
When I stopped taking the stimulant, with the natural law of physics, what goes up must come down, I had a horrendous crash. The saying goes that trauma causes toxins to be stored in the body and when they're released it releases a lot of emotions. Just in time for the "big enema". I was shown into a different room this time, that had cold white tiling, a strobe light, a wooden operating table and some metal apparatus that looked like it was borrowed from the Tower of London. The word "overwhelmed" took on a whole new meaning as honey and strange herbs wiggled around my intestines like a curly straw.
By the end of the treatment, my insides felt clean and fresh the way your teeth do after you brush them. I guess that's what panchakarma is, just as you scrub the plaque off teeth so it doesn't lead to gum disease or decay, it gets rid of toxins from your tissues and organs and prevents disease from developing.
The doctor said my system, which was weakened by the virus in Ghana, was now brand new like a baby and to him everything seemed quite straightforward. The proof will be in the pudding, that I won't be eating because I have been given strict instructions for the next month: no swimming in the sea, no carbonated drinks, coffee/caffeine, dairy products or gluten, citrus fruits, vinegar or ketchup. I must drink only warm water to aid digestion (I bought a thermos). I can gradually introduce some of these things but I should avoid dairy, it slows down my metabolism too much.
I didn't know what to make of it all, but when the trustee of the ashram finished his twenty one day treatment looking ten years younger, fit and ready to run a marathon in December, I asked the doctor if he thought I should do three weeks instead of two. But he said that it wasn't necessary and that I wasn't strong enough to take it.
My treatment
This part gets even nuttier. Be prepared to fly through it and enter the new world I've found myself in.
I was fascinated to read that the reason the oily massages, that you have for the first five days, make you so tired is that the coconut oil is mixed with bitter herbs and the oil seeps through your skin into your body and is rejected by your organs and tissues, which dislodges the "sticky" impurities.
I had understood that when I arrived I was quite sluggish (the conceptualization of the elements is all-encompassing: I demonstrated a kapha/earth imbalance affecting mind and body). Since I had read that change always happens sequentially from kapha (earth) to pitta (fire) to sattvic (balance), in order to treat me first, he gave me the herbal stimulant to move me into a pitta (fire) state. The doctor also later explained the rice bundle massage (your body is thumped with balls of rice and God knows what) is designed to do this too, it improves blood circulation and lymphatic function.
When we moved onto the purging stage, we had to drink a cup of ghee with herbs in it that's meant to empty your stomach in a gravitational direction. However, I sat feeling nauseous for nearly four hours. In the last two hours, you have to drink a cup of water every ten minutes. By the end, I threw up what seemed like about three to four litres of water. This confirmed what the doctor knew already - it's a kapha/earth problem - toxins in my body have accumulated in my stomach due to heavy kapha/earth foods (starch, dairy) that my weakened digestive system is not easily able to process. In the evening, after the detoxification purging, I felt like I was in ecstasy: my second brain was buzzing. Karl, who had lent me the book, turned to me and said, "I've never felt this way before", but it was his gut brain doing the talking.
My experience
The whole thing was hardcore to say the least. I experienced weakness that took me back to the time when all this started in Ghana. I didn't leave the compound in two and a half weeks, except once when I joined the group for weekly walking Satsang (meditation and singing). Down at the lake, after the songs had come to a close, I looked around for an arm to help me back up the hill, but they all belonged to strangers. By the following week I had grown even weaker and I went into the Hindu temple in the Ashram for the first time and gave turmeric rice offerings, flowers and milk to the gods. I gave up on yoga, though sometimes I joined for the pranayama (breathing exercises) and tried to go to one Satsang in the hall a day, where I enjoyed singing but was too exhausted to hold the percussion instruments for any length of time. You start to lose perception of what normal was like and this state becomes your new reality.
My bunk-mate got ill with a stomach bug and I had a buddy for a while stuck in the dormitory. When other people get bugs, they complain about their symptoms and exclaim how boring it is to lie in bed all day, and then "POW", just like magic, they better. Why did her body heal her unmedicated and mine didn't? Something is blocking me and I want to know what it is.
Surrendered to the dormitory, it was the most motivated I've ever been to read books, I was chomping through them messily like a dog at breakfast, conscientious about not joining in with the activities that gave the busy ashram an air of a holiday camp over a tranquil environment for quiet contemplation or healing. The lack of privacy meant I was perched on my bed in full view of everyone day after day, like some kind of art exhibit showcasing the concept of lazyness, while everyone exercised, worked and holidayed around me.
One time, I had a dream about a packet of rolos. The crisp gold packaging and surrounding paper outer layer slid open and inside a train of chocolate and toffee blocks. I ate one... and then before I knew it, I'd eaten them all and worried I'd ruined the whole treatment. One of the volunteers, who I'd already spoken to, shook me awake and demanded to know why I wasn't going to Satsang since the timetable is obligatory; I said I wasn't feeling well. Her tone was annoyed, "why you always sick? just lie in bed all day? You don't go to yoga, you don't go to lecture, you don't go to Satsang"... I could see her aggravation had been building as she emphatically stated every activity I had missed out on. She then made me get a sign that said panchakarma and stick it on my mosquito net, before sauntering off to join the rest of the Hitler Youth.
When I stopped taking the stimulant, with the natural law of physics, what goes up must come down, I had a horrendous crash. The saying goes that trauma causes toxins to be stored in the body and when they're released it releases a lot of emotions. Just in time for the "big enema". I was shown into a different room this time, that had cold white tiling, a strobe light, a wooden operating table and some metal apparatus that looked like it was borrowed from the Tower of London. The word "overwhelmed" took on a whole new meaning as honey and strange herbs wiggled around my intestines like a curly straw.
By the end of the treatment, my insides felt clean and fresh the way your teeth do after you brush them. I guess that's what panchakarma is, just as you scrub the plaque off teeth so it doesn't lead to gum disease or decay, it gets rid of toxins from your tissues and organs and prevents disease from developing.
The doctor said my system, which was weakened by the virus in Ghana, was now brand new like a baby and to him everything seemed quite straightforward. The proof will be in the pudding, that I won't be eating because I have been given strict instructions for the next month: no swimming in the sea, no carbonated drinks, coffee/caffeine, dairy products or gluten, citrus fruits, vinegar or ketchup. I must drink only warm water to aid digestion (I bought a thermos). I can gradually introduce some of these things but I should avoid dairy, it slows down my metabolism too much.
When energy comes again, it comes as excitement in your veins, and the voice in your head says, "use it, go on". As I planned my escape from the ashram, a girl started chattering away to me about youth hostels and parties and I could see she mistook me for someone she might have fun with. I just wanted to crawl into a nest in the hollowed out part of a tree and nap under the soft feathery belly of a giant bird.
The verdict
In the final days of treatment, I finished the book. And there, on the final pages, was a section listing eight common conditions that Western medicine is unable to treat, which Ayurveda frequently does, and there written was, "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". The description stared out at me from the page. It explained that according to Ayurveda, weak metabolism causes unmetabolised food substances to block the passage of oxygen and nutrients from reaching tissues and organs. When the tissues are undernourished, immunity grows weak, allowing bacteria and viruses to gain a foothold, leaving patients to feel constantly tired and vulnerable to infections. The doctor explains that he has treated many patients with this condition and gives an anecdotal story about a psychologist who couldn't work and after just eight days of treatment could continue with his normal activities.
In the novel, Papillon, the convict, Henri Charcuteirre finds himself in a dark cell with only stale air to breathe and a bowl of gruel each day. Each morning and evening, the tide comes in and half fills the cell and at other times there are rats. He paces his cell for exercise, but when the food ration gets even smaller, he grows weak and reduces his activity, conserving energy by lying down for the majority of the day. He demonstrates inspirational mental fortitude and aptitude for survival, but could it really be that like Henri Charcuteirre, the weakness in M.E. sufferers is caused by their tissues and organs not receiving enough nutrients or oxygen? Did the girl who died of severe M.E. perish because she suffocated and starved to death?
Why is CFS considered a Westerners' problem in Asia? Because stress and burnout from Western way of life, together with dietary factors (often excess of wheat products and processed foods) causes your metabolism to malfunction or slow down.
Just before leaving, Karl handed me a folded over section in the book he was reading, called "Fat for Fuel", by Dr. Jospeh Mercola, who mentions that fat was labelled as evil in the 1950s despite really shoddy evidence (funded by the margarine industry) and was taken up by US president because of the influence of one man. The study then informed the national healthy eating guidelines and warned people to reduce all fat consumption, leading people to compensate by ingesting excess starchy foods that have little nutritional value for energy instead of high quality fat. There is even a brief section regarding CFS and Fibromyalgia (chronic pain) which states that a recent study found a high fat, gluten free diet, was shown to improve these conditions, though it was a small sample group and further investigation needed to be made. He argues that fat is essential for the healthy development of mitochondria in your cells. I remember as well reading that M.E. entails slight mitochondria dysfunction.
In the end, I have taken a big risk on a "gut feeling"; I am mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted. But, whether or not CFS/M.E. involves digestion, I still believe that the failure of the West to acknowledge the condition as a "real" illness for many years, purporting that it existed only in the imagination of patients, surfaces flaws in our approach to health and well-being more broadly.
Does our absolute faith in logic and deep mistrust of the senses (and intuition) sometimes cost us our common sense? Our bodies are highly refined communicators and let us know when something is wrong in our bodies, diet or in our lives. If you drink a double shot of coffee and feel nauseous and jittery, maybe just have one shot next time. Don't entirely surrender your instincts in favour of scientific research like I did. It might be wrong.
Is there a lack of intellectual diversity in the field of medical research (as in all fields), since people with strong intuitive intelligence may be dissuaded from taking it?" (article). In Corporate Responsibility, the field in which I work, cultural, gender, social and intellectual diversity is known to be good for business. I've never understood that more fully until now. The reason it isnt easy to "think outside the box", is that we are not fully aware of the paradigm we exist within (article).
To what extent does our common concept in the West of mind and body dualism and our focus on parts of the body in isolation allow us to miss important knowledge about our organic algorithm? This article explains why mind and body dualism persists in the field of medicine despite acknowledgement it's holding us back.
To what extent do drug companies together with mistrust, misunderstanding and cultural over-reliance on packaged drugs and quick fixes inhibit mainstream knowledge of natural healing and certain alternative therapies?
We have made incredible advances in curing terrible diseases, but to enhance this, will greater convergence with the East and scientific investigation into Eastern medical wisdom allow us to be better prepared to face the oncoming health challenges of the 21st century, bringing more attention to holistic health, psychosomatic disorders, prevention and health optimisation?
In the novel, Papillon, the convict, Henri Charcuteirre finds himself in a dark cell with only stale air to breathe and a bowl of gruel each day. Each morning and evening, the tide comes in and half fills the cell and at other times there are rats. He paces his cell for exercise, but when the food ration gets even smaller, he grows weak and reduces his activity, conserving energy by lying down for the majority of the day. He demonstrates inspirational mental fortitude and aptitude for survival, but could it really be that like Henri Charcuteirre, the weakness in M.E. sufferers is caused by their tissues and organs not receiving enough nutrients or oxygen? Did the girl who died of severe M.E. perish because she suffocated and starved to death?
If panchakarma really has helped people, why don't we know about it?
- The NHS can't recommend alternative therapies without clinic trials. The OHC are currently fundraising for a clinical trial with the University of South Hampton for their well regarded psychology/nutrition approach - donate here https://www.justgiving.com/optimumhealthfoundation
- Funding - who donates to an "imaginary" cause, or chooses the M.E. Association instead of RSPCA or Cancer Research? Drug companies can't box up Panchakarma and put it on a shelf, "The pharmaceutical companies with their focus on commercial interests have great stakes in the existing medical system... They fund research but opt for status quo by selectively publishing their findings (Singh and Singh, 2005b) which does not allow new knowledge to surface" NCBI.
- Skepticism - "Pancha-what-now?" - We assume that Western medicine first amassed the world's total available knowledge, but in fact divergent systems have been developing in parallel to each other; sensationalized news stories about shark fin soup enhance xenophobic prejudices; we have been so busy exporting our culture and influence that we have imported little beyond curry, Lidl and IKEA.
- Though it takes six years to become an Ayurvedic doctor, their methods of diagnosis and treatment are understandably by Western standards "unscientific". See here.
- Attribution & patient responsibility - since it may take three months or longer to see improvement, a patient or skeptic may assume they would have got better anyway; not all patients will follow the strict guidelines after and success will be on a case by case basis.
- Individual causation - Most importantly of all (and corresponding with OHC assessment), it is likely that CFS/M.E. is caused by different things for different people and whilst poor metabolism and diet may account for 100% of the illness for some, others will have to explore accompanying problems such as undetected thyroid dysfunction, non-celiac gluten intolerance, anxiety and lifetyle or behavioral factors or indeed some yet unknown element. If physical and mental stress can weaken your metabolism, it can likely weaken your other systems too.
Why is CFS considered a Westerners' problem in Asia? Because stress and burnout from Western way of life, together with dietary factors (often excess of wheat products and processed foods) causes your metabolism to malfunction or slow down.
Just before leaving, Karl handed me a folded over section in the book he was reading, called "Fat for Fuel", by Dr. Jospeh Mercola, who mentions that fat was labelled as evil in the 1950s despite really shoddy evidence (funded by the margarine industry) and was taken up by US president because of the influence of one man. The study then informed the national healthy eating guidelines and warned people to reduce all fat consumption, leading people to compensate by ingesting excess starchy foods that have little nutritional value for energy instead of high quality fat. There is even a brief section regarding CFS and Fibromyalgia (chronic pain) which states that a recent study found a high fat, gluten free diet, was shown to improve these conditions, though it was a small sample group and further investigation needed to be made. He argues that fat is essential for the healthy development of mitochondria in your cells. I remember as well reading that M.E. entails slight mitochondria dysfunction.
How am I to pass comment on the bizarre experience and information ingested? All I know with certainty is that Globalisation has done wonders for the homogeneity of the cheeseburger, but when it comes to the fields of psychology and medicine, the complexity of these topics leaves room for more collaboration, comparison and introspection.
Critique of Western medicine
Sunil V. Joshi offers an interesting critique of western medicine... If I can remember the main points:
Sunil V. Joshi offers an interesting critique of western medicine... If I can remember the main points:
- Often treatment is palliative rather than getting to the route cause of the problem. If you suffer from migraines a doctor may give you something to take the symptoms away. Ayurvedic doctors say your head is trying to communicate with you and something is up with your diet or lifestyle.
- It doesn't focus on prevention. Panchakarma is a science of rejeuvination. A healthy person should undergo it every two to three years to prevent diseases from occurring.
- Diagnosis tends to come at the disease stage, whereas Ayurveda can correct something long before it turns into a disease and has identified a six stage disease process. He gives the example of a young guy who as a teenager just ate cheeseburgers, pizza, ice-cream and washed it down with coke. He ignores signs of indigestion. Later in life his knuckles start to hurt but he ignores this or sees his doctor and is dismissed because "there's nothing wrong" with him. He continues and the doctor later tells him later in life he has arthritis and says it is incurable but he can have treatment to reduce the symptoms.
- Although Western nutritionists understand the importance of a balanced diet, they don't have such a comprehensive theory that appreciates the relationship between diet, metabolism, the mind and the onset of disease.
- It doesn't take into account the unique physiology of the individual. Treatments are "one size fits all".
- Western medicines are often stronger than necessary for the human body and have adverse side effects - in many instances we could take weaker medicine instead of antibiotics and tweak our diet. We've lost sight of the fact that 60% of conditions and diseases can be cured through diet and lifestyle adjustments alone (including early onset cancer).
- Our focus looking at health on the micro-level means we miss certain things.
- Western doctors don't appreciate the importance of the colon in treating conditions! Apparently 50% of the success of Panchakarma is attributed to the "big enema", which alone can clear up skin conditions and a host of seemingly unrelated ailments.
Does our absolute faith in logic and deep mistrust of the senses (and intuition) sometimes cost us our common sense? Our bodies are highly refined communicators and let us know when something is wrong in our bodies, diet or in our lives. If you drink a double shot of coffee and feel nauseous and jittery, maybe just have one shot next time. Don't entirely surrender your instincts in favour of scientific research like I did. It might be wrong.
Is there a lack of intellectual diversity in the field of medical research (as in all fields), since people with strong intuitive intelligence may be dissuaded from taking it?" (article). In Corporate Responsibility, the field in which I work, cultural, gender, social and intellectual diversity is known to be good for business. I've never understood that more fully until now. The reason it isnt easy to "think outside the box", is that we are not fully aware of the paradigm we exist within (article).
To what extent does our common concept in the West of mind and body dualism and our focus on parts of the body in isolation allow us to miss important knowledge about our organic algorithm? This article explains why mind and body dualism persists in the field of medicine despite acknowledgement it's holding us back.
To what extent do drug companies together with mistrust, misunderstanding and cultural over-reliance on packaged drugs and quick fixes inhibit mainstream knowledge of natural healing and certain alternative therapies?
We have made incredible advances in curing terrible diseases, but to enhance this, will greater convergence with the East and scientific investigation into Eastern medical wisdom allow us to be better prepared to face the oncoming health challenges of the 21st century, bringing more attention to holistic health, psychosomatic disorders, prevention and health optimisation?
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