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(Continuation)
Continuation Jeff's case...
Three different cardiologists came in, each with different opinions as to what may have happened. The consensus was that I had contracted a virus that had ended up attacking my heart. When I asked what kind of virus and how I may have caught it I was told "we don't know."
After three days they attempted to do a cardio aversion, where they shock your heart back into rhythm. Before doing so they put an ultrasonic camera down my throat to get a close look at my heart. They found blood pooled in the bottom of my heart which made me a stroke risk. They did not proceed with the cardio aversion. When I woke up and was told, I was deeply disappointed and fought depression over the next few days as i would be weeks or even months before they could try again.
Finally I was discharged. I watched as my regular doctor wrote out my prescriptions, which he told me were absolutely critical to my survival. When my wife went to the pharmacy to have the prescriptions filled, she was told that two of them should never be taken together and the pharmacist refused to honor the prescription.
So I called my general practitioner doctor (after hours), who never called back, despite calling his service every half an hour for eighteen hours. The fear I had was incredible. I had just gotten out of the hospital, was told my situation was critical without these drugs, yet I didn't have them.
The next morning I finally got the doctor on the phone and told him that the pharmacist wouldn't fill the two prescriptions, as they conflicted. He told me that he had THREE written prescriptions at the hospital, that the third was one CRITICAL! I replied that I had watched him write TWO. He disagreed. I knew the truth though. He resolved the problem and I started taking the pills twice daily.
A week later I saw my cardiologist, who changed my prescriptions and doses. I left his office with two NEW prescriptions. Again I had a problem with the pharmacist not filling the prescription because of a conflict. Tried to call my cardiologist after hours, and HE didn't return my calls! Two doctors, with a patient in a critical state. Finally got ahold of him in the morning, and he resolved the issue and told me to come in to see him in two weeks.
I felt awful during this time, and looked it. No activity, just resting.
I should add that the cardiologist prescribed a "life vest," an uncomfortable wearable defibrillator that I was instructed to wear 24/7. The only time I could take it off was for a shower, and my wife was to sit outside the shower to monitor me in case I collapsed in the shower. We came up with emergency procedures, I made lists of who to call and taped them up with emergency phone numbers all over the house and my office. I was forced to wear this device to business meetings, where clients asked what it was. When they learned it was a defibrillator, they treated me like I had leprosy. I was terrified.
In two weeks I went back to the cardiologist. On the way out the door from my house, I had thought it would be smart to grab my prescriptions just in case my doctor wanted to see what the pharmacist had given me. Anyway, he checked me out, said I was doing much better, although I was still out of rhythm. He hoped I would pop back into rhythm myself but it wasn't happening. Blood pressure good, etc. I was told to return in another two weeks. As I was leaving I remembered my prescriptions. I told the doctor "hey could you check these just in case?" He gave me a very condescending smirk and snatched them out of my hands. "Where's the third one?" he asked. "There is no third one." "I gave you three prescriptions!" he said. "No, I remember you writing two, I remember exactly where you were in the office when you wrote them, and I remember thinking "Ok, I only have to take two now."" He shook his head "no," and wrote me another prescription saying "this stuff is crucial to your staying alive" and walked out the door.
I was in shock. This was the THIRD time my doctors had made mistakes with my prescriptions. A 100% failure rate. On top of it, at NO time did I get a written directive on HOW to take these medications (with or without food, what hour of the day, etc.), only a verbal one when I was at the hospital. This all seemed ludicrous and I was finally ANGRY enough to start to take matters (and MY LIFE) into my own hands.
Gian Girardi is someone I have worked with for almost ten years for various issues, opinions, and advice. I suddenly knew that I had to call him. I had NOT called him because I had been talked into the fact that this serious health issue was "too big" for any holistic or nutritional treatment, THIS WAS A JOB FOR BIG MEDICAL EXPERTS. Screw that. I called Gian, who took my call and saw me immediately.
I told him this entire story and added that the doctors were telling me things like "you're a walking time bomb," "you have no idea how serious this is," "you could drop like a bag of bricks at any moment," "you're at very high risk for both a sudden stroke and heart attack," and "this could affect your longevity."
Gian instantly told me "don't listen to a word of this fear mongering!" He told me that I likely did NOT need the vest, but for now carrying it was not doing no harm. He had watched me get out of my car, preparing to see his super healthy client get out like an old man. Instead he saw the same hop in my step, the same brightness in my eyes.
Gian helped me to design an appropriate supplement program, checked my already excellent diet and helped me to move away from all the fear seeded in my organism by the doctors. These simple interventions turned the entire thing around.
I told him of the stress I had been through for the last ten months, I had been working on a HUGE project, maybe the biggest one of my life, with people who were legends to me. To finally work with them was a dream come true. Except that they were very difficult people. They were verbally abusive and demanding. They insisted on changing my schedule around to conflict with my workouts. My diet changed because of this also. The stress pushed me to drink more alcohol when I got home at night, and then eventually keeping some wine around at work to take the edge off.
Gian told me that in his opinion it was no virus what caused the problem. That I had been in a "fight or flight" state of adrenal elevation for months…and any time you call on the adrenal glands for that amount of time, you drain your body of crucial ingredients, most importantly magnesium and potassium, which are CRUCIAL for regulating heart rhythm. He designed a supplement program that would cram my body full of life-giving elements, things that I had been drained of for months.
He also gave me constructive advise regarding my thought process and attitude. I was NOT going to die. I was NOT walking dead. I was NOT going to die at an early age. This was a transitory event that could easily be controlled and healed. He was very forceful in telling me NOT to succumb to the fear and doubt that had been spread by my "experts" who were more concerned with their bottom line, reputations and liabilities.
He explained that the last thing they needed was a young patient dying on them. So that defibrillator vest was to a great extent an insurance policy for THEIR legal protection, just in case I was in the half of one percent. Everything they had done was to a great degree for THEIR convenience, for their benefit, for their profit and loss statement. One thing that struck me was that the blood thinners I was on kept me from eating green leafy vegetables. Here I was, fighting for my life, and was restricted from ingesting the very building blocks of health. This seemed completely ludicrous to me.
At any rate, I began Gian's program. I told my cardiologist about my intent to go on a supplement program in addition to his program and he laughed it off as if to say "well, if that makes you feel good, go ahead and do it, but it's a placebo at best."
From the first time I put the magnesium fizz, potassium and the dozen other supplements Gian prescribed, I started to feel better. I could almost feel them going through my veins like fresh water. I started feeling much much better. My body soaked the supplements like a sponge.
On top of it all, my attitude was much improved. I had teetered on the edge of depression from all of this, especially wearing the time bomb of a vest 24 hours a day. That was almost gone now. I had hope and intuitively knew I was getting better.
I finally went in for my cardio aversion, to shock my heart back in rhythm. Gian had recommended me to consider waiting, that as the supplements strengthened my heart its electrical system would likely get back on track so my heart would go back into rhythm. The doctors won this time, telling me that it was time to get this over with. I agreed and my heart was successfully shocked back into rhythm this time.
I was told that they would now monitor me over the next 6-8 months to see my recovery results and decide what the rest of my life might look like. It was all still in doubt after all this time….and I had to keep wearing that awful vest.
After three weeks on Gian's program, I went for an ultrasound at my cardiologists. As the nurse moved the sensor over my heart, my cardiologist stared at the screen with his jaw agape, saying "I don't believe it…..amazing….wow…..I don't believe it…..this is unbelievable." I asked him "WHAT IS GOING ON?!!!!!" He replied "YOU'RE ALMOST BACK TO NORMAL!" My "ejection fraction," which had been hovering around 20 for almost four months, had shot up to 44 in only three weeks. They had thought that this would take six months.
I kept my mouth shut about the supplements and what I believed. It wasn't worth wasting my breath. After all, these doctors had gone to school for 6-8 years to learn the dogma of Western medicine, where they are taught in very narrow terms how do deal with symptoms. Never did I hear about prevention, never was I asked about my stress level, what my diet was, how many hours i slept, whether I was depressed or happy, or whether I exercised. I knew that they would never accept what i knew was the truth: the holistic program had completely turned my heart around in a matter of WEEKS for a FRACTION of the cost and with nothing chemically invasive to my body. I just smiled and left the office.
Two weeks later I wen to my cardiologist, where they did another EKG. Virtually NORMAL. He couldn't believe it. He wasn't smiling though. I asked him "what are you thinking?" He replied "I'm thinking that I'm ecstatic right now." I wondered again why, if so, he wasn't smiling. He KNEW there was something going on beyond his traditional treatment, and he knew that I knew and wasn't saying anything. I know this. He told me not to come back for THREE MONTHS, and to send the "life" vest back. So I shook his hand and left, went to a nice lunch with my wife, where we toasted a glass of champagne, both in tears.
So now here I am a few weeks later, and feeling like myself again. Thank you Gian….for sharing with me your knowledge of the human body, brain, nutrition, psychology and Consciousness. This holistic understanding has become a critical factor in my well-being and happiness, and it may have may saved my life.
PROLOGUE
Two more things:
1. During this entire saga, my cardiologist asked about my parent's hearts. I replied that my mother had had two heart attacks, and that my dad had extensive heart problems (three heart attacks before the age of sixty, two defibrillators and a pacemaker, laser ablation, three cardio aversions, and permanent cardiomyopathy). My doctor's eyebrows went up. "We need to get him on the phone, if this is hereditary, that is the worst news you could get." I set up a three-way call with my father and the cardiologist, where my dad went through his history, which I had never really heard: when he as 59, he went to the doctor for the flu, where they found his heart wildly out of rhythm (sound familiar?". He was rushed to the hospital where they eventually did a cardio aversion and installed a defibrillator. Then he was diagnosed with permanent heart damage, cardiomyopathy. Anyway, the cardiologist finally said to my dad "thanks so much for your help." He instructed me to stay on the line. Once my dad hung up, my doctor said: "well, that is exactly the news I didn't want to hear, it IS hereditary." My heart sank. Just as I was feeling better, I was told that this damage may be permanent, and that I would not only live with this forever, but would probably need to have a defibrillator/pacemaker installed, and on top of it all my lifespan
would be shorter. Very depressing.
But again I questioned this. Then I had a vivid realization: my father, like me, was a talented man who his employers could not get enough of. This put him on a workaholic path of 35 years worth of 18 hour days….just like me. The stress had taken him down, it had taken BOTH of us down. What was "hereditary" was our talent and dedication, along with our tireless quest to succeed and excel. This almost killed both of us. Oh and my mother? 50 years of constant anxiety and worry is what got her there…yet all the time refusing to get help while HER doctors pump her full of anti-depressants, anti-anxiety pills, cholesterol lowering pills, blood pressure pills, heart rate pills, sleeping pills, blood thinners….these doctors should be in jail in my opinion.
At any rate, my next project is to use what I've learned here and now save my father's life, he unlike my mother is a least a tiny bit open to another point of view….with Gian's help of course. I just got off the phone with my father, who finally agreed, after numerous doctors appointments with pointless tests, prescriptions and the usual rushing him out of the office for the next patient, to talk to Gian.
2. Just last week I was reading a book on the U.S. Apollo space program in the 1960's. I am fascinated by this subject. Well my eyes almost popped out of my head when I read that in one of the first moon missions, ALL THREE astronauts returned with atrial fibrillation. The doctors were mystified. Was it the lack of gravity? Was it some hidden magnetic force on the moon? Some chemical that had crept into their food supply? No. After extensive research they discovered…are you ready for this…the incredible STRESS from the mission had DEPLETED all three astronauts of POTASSIUM, which helps regulate heart rate!!! Sound at all familiar?!
So what was the cure for this for future missions? Orange juice. Vast quantities of it. So much that the astronauts complained about the flatulence. And how do you take orange juice to space? Powder.
Thus TANG was born.
That was 45 years ago, yet now, my cardiologist, who again went to college for 6-8 years,
has no idea about this.
SUMMATION
I believe that we are in a "dark age" of medicine. I believe that fifty years from now experts will look back at the way we treat patients the same way we now view bloodletting and leeches from the 1700's. "How could they have missed this?!!!," they will ask. "It was always the food, the medicine that we take three times a day for our entire lives." They will look back at the hijacking of our food system by big corporations and the profit producing pesticides, GMOs, steroids and hormones given to animals who are future food sources…they will look at all this as genocide. Senseless. The same with this profit motivated medical system.
Well thankfully I have lived to tell this story, I hope it helps somebody somewhere to seek out a different opinion and save THEIR lives. I tell all my friends now, when they complain about this or that…."CALL GIAN."
JL , Los Angeles 4/29/15
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Steve's case (continuation)
Over a year ago I started to get symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). It was certainly related to emotional causes, the breakup of a marriage, and other troubles. That meant poor assimilation, low energy, trouble sleeping and even more diminished ability to focus and take charge of my life. Back then, I did start taking some supplements for the brain that Gian Paolo recommended, and my IBS went away. I said to myself: "Well, it was probably a coincidence. My body is coming back to normal, and so now I can stop taking these pills. My body can make everything it needs all by itself, I don't need more pills. I can get everything I need from my green drinks and raw food."
Well, that was true - for a month or so. Then my IBS came back. Believe me, you cannot take green drinks, or most kinds of raw food, if you have IBS. I tried all kinds of recipes for green drinks, but nothing helped to stabilize me. For many months I suffered - until I started to lose weight (I was already skinny) no matter how much, or what, I ate. I had to rest in bed, never fully sleeping, for at least 12 hours a day just to function. My friends were worried, and I was getting desperate. After all, I had an aunt who died of colon cancer, and her brother (my uncle) suffered from colitis for 30 years, finally dying a slow wasting death. My father already has had surgery for colon cancer. Maybe it was genetic, for me to have IBS? I was worried. Already I has seen an MD and all he told me was to restrict my diet, by eliminating dairy and wheat. I was already doing that. He wanted me to take an anti-depressant. I told him I would never do such a thing. He told me that he could not help me, in that case.
So I began intensively researching IBS on the Internet, and I tried many things. My diet became extremely restricted. Finally, one web site made a reference to a study that indicated that IBS is related to neurotransmitter deficit -- how strange! Well, Gian Paolo had already told me that, over a year ago. But you know how it is, when a friend tells you something, you sometimes disregard it. After all, I thought, he is not a doctor, he does not have a PhD in chemistry. Plus, I had just had an extensive evaluation by a natureopath and he told me that my issue was metabolic, not neurological, and brain pills would not help me. I was following his program, but it did not help. Except the B-12 shots that help somewhat.
So I thought, maybe I should go back to taking the brain pills? So, I did, but I did not expect any results, because my symptoms by that time were so bad, I felt it was hopeless. I was actually becoming resigned to a suffering life of diminished capacity. Plus, I thought that I absolutely knew that the cause of my IBS was emotional, and probably genetic, not because of lack of brain nutrition! I had been praying hard, asking God to help me, with no success. If God could not help me, how could pills?
Yet, within one week, all symptoms were gone - 100% gone! You can't imagine how grateful I was. I now know that God was trying to help me, and He was just waiting for me to wake up and do something sensible. The only reason God did not "help" me earlier, is that He had already given me the answer, through Gian Paolo, but I was not listening.
I have now come to terms with the fact that, yes, I do need to continue taking the handful of pills, for at least two meals every day. Perhaps it is because of my age (60) or that I live in LA smog or my genetic makeup that my body cannot be totally independent of nutritional supplements in a pill form, but I have to accept that. I want to function and be happy, live a good spiritual life, and not be feeling sick all the time, and doing nothing positive with my life. Taking a handful of pills twice a day is a very small price to pay! I just consider them as good food, as Gian Paolo says, that my body really needs. They are not drugs.
I now also realize that while green drinks eventually help restore normal levels of necessary stomach acid, it is also true (at least in my case) that strong stomach acid is needed from the beginning to really benefit from green drinks. It is why I was not getting the brain nutrition I needed from Green drinks. Through my research, I learned that greens, and magnesium in particular (all greens are rich in magnesium since magnesium is the center molecule of chlorophyll) will strongly buffer acids in the body - you become more alkaline. Usually that is a good thing. But if you are really sick, and have IBS it means the green drinks will go right through you, undigested. Even the stomach acid is buffered - and that acid is essential to initiate the process of protein digestion, no matter how well the Vita-Mix has blended the greens. Gian Paolo had even warned me about that - telling me that it was a good idea to take Betain HCL pills (available at any health food store) with the green drinks. Did I listen? No. Well, now I am doing that too, and I have no trouble with green drinks.
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On Gian's Satsang
From the Path to the Ultimate Experience
Jim Stewart, PhD, December 19, 2015
-- DrJimStewartatgmail.com --
(Continuation)
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Master Hsuan Hua's English translation of the Sixth Patriarch Sutra -- http://cttbusa.org/6patriarch/6patriarch_contents.asp -- refers to it as, "self-nature," "Buddha nature," "original face," and more. Blofeld's translation of The Zen Teaching of Huang Po -- http://www.amazon.com -- uses "Mind." Gian uses "Self," "Awareness," and "Consciousness.
" Other writers have mistakenly used the term "soul", which Gian correctly rejects.
I prefer "awarenessing." One benefit for awarenessing is that it is harder to get attached to a gerund, such as awarenessing, than to a noun, such "Self." But ultimately any term is a distraction.
Geoffrey DeGraff's translations (The Mind Like Fire Unbound, http://www.dhammatalks.org/) show how the actual words of Buddha emphasize releasing all attachments to reach "Nirvana."
Used with reference to fire, 'Nirvana' means 'being out' or 'going out.' Used with reference to the mind, it refers to the final goal and to the goal's attainment.Nirvana is only
one of the Buddhist goal's many names.
One section of the Canon lists 33, and the composite
impression
they convey is worth bearing in mind:
"The unfabricated, the end, the effluent-less, the true, the beyond, the subtle, the very-hard-to-see, the ageless, permanence, the undecaying, the surface-less, non-objectification, peace, the deathless, the exquisite, bliss, solace, the exhaustion of craving, the wonderful, the marvelous, the secure, security, nirvana, the unafflicted, the passionless, the pure, release, non-attachment, the island, shelter, harbor, refuge, the ultimate." – Samyutta Nikaya 42:1-44
However, I believe that to see Nirvana as a goal is also distraction. DeGraff translates Ajaan Lee's (Keeping the Breath in Mind & Lessons in Samadhi, -- http://www.dhammatalks.org/ -- summary
of his years of studying Buddha's actual words:
"Before the Buddha taught that things are inconstant, he had worked at knowing them until they revealed their constancy. Before teaching that things are stressful, he had turned that stress into pleasure and ease. And before teaching that things are not-self, he had turned what is not-self into a self, and so was able to see what is constant and true, lying hidden in what is inconstant, stressful, and not-self. He then gathered all of these qualities into one.
He gathered all that is inconstant, stressful, and not-self into one and the same thing: fabrications viewed in terms of the world—a single class, equal everywhere throughout the world. As for what's constant, pleasant, and self, this was another class: fabrications viewed in terms of the Dharma. And then he let go of both classes, without getting caught up on 'constant' or 'inconstant,' 'stress' or 'ease,' 'self' or 'not-self.' This is why we can say he attained release, purity, and Liberation, for he had no need to latch onto fabrications—whether of the world or of the Dharma—in any way at all.
As Hsuan Hua's English translation of the Heart Sutra -- http://cttbusa.org/heartsutra/hs1.htm -- says, "There is no suffering, no accumulating, no extinction, no way, and no understanding and no attaining. Because nothing is attained, the Bodhisattva, through reliance on prajna paramita, is unimpeded in his mind. Because there is no impediment, he is not afraid, and he leaves
distorted dream-thinking far behind. Ultimately Nirvana!"
For me, the essence of the Heart Sutra is this: One must give up any hope of ever attaining any spiritual goal. Then mental distractions are reduced.
But you must discover this for yourself. Reading and listening to teachers cannot do it. As Hsuan Hua says Sixth Patriarch's Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra, Chapter III, -- http://cttbusa.org/6patriarch/6patriarch8.asp -- ,
"See your original face. You ask, 'What does my original face look like?' You must find out for yourself. I cannot describe it to you, and even if I did, you wouldn't know because your knowledge would have come from the outside. Enlighten yourself to your own nature. Then,
'Ah,' you will say, 'My original face looks just like this!'"
Therefore, I recommend Gian's approach of "being aware of perceiving thoughts, and then taking a step back from that experience." But when you step back, don't allow your mind to be distracted by the use of any term, especially a noun such as "Awareness," to describe the ultimate
experience that you step back into.
Any description of that state is a distraction from the ultimate path to the ultimate "no-experience," which can only be reached by complete dis-identification from all concepts. But beyond that, as Ajaan says, don't be distracted by any feelings of bliss or blessing, as I reported in my opening testimonial above. Only when you are aware you have reached the ultimate state, beyond all
experience, are you truly liberated.
One final word of advice, reaching the ultimate state is supported by the presence of an awakened teacher, such as Gian, whether in physical proximity or virtually, via phone or Skype.
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Lake in Sierra Nevada, California
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Register and Receive Invitations to BOHI's
Tuition Free Classes
To register at the Brain Optimization Holistic Institute and receive email invitations to our Tuition Free Classes takes two to three minutes.
Please follow this link:
Registration Form, Access BOHI Tuition Free Classes
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The Brain Optimization™ Holistic Institute offers classes, information and courses with certifications on drug free solutions to ADD, ADHD, depression, anxiety, chronic pain, substance abuse and other forms of brain / mental suffering and disorders. Certifications include Brain Optimization™ with Emphasis in Nutrition, Life/Wellness Coaching with Emphasis in Cognitive Psychology and Psychology of Consciousness with Emphasis in Non-Duality. The Brain Optimization Holistic Institute also offers a Certification in Holistic Life Coaching for those who complete the three certifications mentioned above.
Brain Optimization Holistic Institute's broadcasting and recording studio for online classes and coaching sessions is presently located in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California. Students from adjacent cities and locations like Pasadena, Studio City, San Fernando Valley, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Pacific Palisades, West Los Angeles, Brentwood, Bel Air, Santa Monica, Laguna Beach, Irvine and Orange County can take the Coaching Sessions in person, on Skype or on the phone. Students living in cities and locations further away in the States or abroad like San Francisco, San Diego, New York, North and South Carolina, Miami, London England, Paris France, Rome and Milan Italy, Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, Santiago Chile, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Ecuador, Quito, Montreal, Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa, New Zealand, Hawaií, Kauai, Maui, Kenya, Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta in India, Hong Kong and Shanghai in China, Taipei in Taiwan, can take the one-on-one coaching sessions on Skype or phone.
All classes are presently presented by the
Brain Optimization Holistic Institute's founder Gian Girardi, MS, MA.
