Sipping From The Fountain of Youth

I recently read an interesting article written in the esteemed Economic Times, which carried an interview with Dr Aubrey de Grey, a researcher who believes he could live long enough to uncover the secret to the fountain of youth.

Can we turn back the biological clock?

In the interview, the good doctor says the key to reversing ageing will “alleviate suffering” and that “it is only a matter of time before medicine becomes sophisticated enough to control ageing”.

Ageing is an extremely sensitive subject. Poetry, art, sculpture and literature (not to mention scientists and pharmaceutical companies!) have always eulogised youth and beauty and have driven dread into our hearts about our silver years.

Leveraging the fear associated with ageing and capitalising on the huge market for ‘wonder solutions’, Dr Grey and many others like him have got millions of men and women hanging onto their every word, hoping to outlive the discovery of a secret that Nature will one day give up.

Not surprisingly, anti-ageing treatments and bioengineering are on the cutting edge of scientific research – billions of dollars are spent and reaped every year on researching and manufacturing anti-ageing products and treatments.

'Editing' our DNA?

The problem is that scientific jargon impresses us, and the more ‘sophisticated’ and incomprehensible the terms, the more impressed we are. And the more impressed we are, the more we tend to believe these prophets of immortality. Thus, when researchers like Dr Grey talk about “editing our DNA” and “stimulating growth factors to reverse ageing”, every fairytale and fable we ever read about the fountain of youth inches closer to becoming a scientific truth.

Oh, how gullible we are! Tampering with your genetic make-up will most definitely alter your bio-physiological processes. Why, it could even make you look younger! But this is a dangerous move. You see, Nature has engineered and fine-tuned the human body to perfection and has left no margin for error. We were created just the way we were meant to be.

Just because we can play God, it doesn’t mean we should. When we use genetic and medical interventions to modify basic biochemical processes for cosmetic purposes, we are attempting to change the natural order of things. These interventions invariably alter selective processes, thereby adversely impacting on other systems and functions such as hormonal activity, immunity and on organs such as the liver and kidneys. In other words, when you ‘selectively re-engineer’ your internal make-up to make your skin taught and young, something else in your body pays the price.

Sometimes, it could be crippling or fatal, as in the tragic case of pop icon Michael Jackson. Obsessive about his looks and unable to accept himself, Jackson obviously wanted to be someone he was not. He went under the knife repeatedly and eventually, his obsession proved fatal. Numerous cosmetic surgeries had obviously wrecked Jackson’s face, leaving it disfigured and unnatural. I mean, how do you go from being a happy-go-luck kid with so much talent and the world at your feet to looking like this?

So what exactly am I saying? Before I answer that, take a look at these pictures…

This is Kashmira. When this young lady approached MindHeal Homeopathy, she had dark circles under her eyes, a receding hairline and her shoulders carried the burden that her marriage had become. It took a toll on her health and she looked tired and fatigued. Not a pretty picture.

MindHeal: Before

Before: Kashmira

Less than two years later, Karshmira is an altogether different person. She looks vivacious and attractive and she’s happy too. Pardon me. She’s happy and calm, and she looks good too. And therein, in that chicken-and-egg rephrasing, lies the answer to happiness or, if you will, the secret to feeling young and looking good.

MindHeal: After

After: Kashmira

Growing old is the result of wear and tear, depletion of resources, emotional baggage and disease and sickness. The way you look is an outward manifestation of these deep-seated biological changes. Your hair thins and turns white, your skin creases and wrinkles, you lose your vitality and your memory wanes. And yes, quite literally, you hair can turn white almost overnight.

For many people, the silver years are also associated with hypertension, heart ailments, metabolic and auto-immune disorders such as diabetes, abnormal weight gain, allergies and asthma. And why only silvers? Thanks to modern lifestyles, many of these ailments are now manifesting themselves in young people, a phenomenon I am faced with every day in my clinic.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that modern lifestyles, stress, emotional trauma, disease, environmental pollution and the like accelerate the ageing process. Yes, it all adds up. And though this may sound like a cliché, it’s the plain and simple truth.

Let me put it this way. It’s like buying an expensive car, tanking it up with adulterated fuel, repeatedly grinding the gears, driving it into every pothole in sight, parking it in the rain and then blaming it for breaking down every now and then and looking like a wreck. 

So you get a top-class mechanic to do some fancy bodywork on your car and lo and behold – it looks as good and new! But in a couple of weeks, the wheels begin to wobble again, the airconditioning gives way and the engine continues to break down. But what the hey, the car still looks good! Hmmm.

Age-old truth

The human body is no different. We punish our minds and bodies and still want this miraculous machine to work like magic. We overwork ourselves, party all night, harbour deep-seated resentments, don’t get enough sleep, eat all the wrong things and we still want to look great. Hmmm.

That’s because most of us tend to believe that “ageing begins when we start growing old”. We also tend to believe that the answer to glowing skin, lustrous hair and a great figure lie in the hands of dermatologists, hair stylists, weight-reduction experts and cosmetic surgeons.

Don’t get me wrong. I never miss my appointment at the salon and I do bask in the occasional pedicure. And sure, pampering and grooming are fun, relaxing and make one feel really good. But if your basic biochemistry malfunctions, even the best body shop and ‘reputed beauty specialists’ cannot help. That’s because they cannot change the basic metabolic processes that are driving your body to age – for some prematurely, others without grace and for many with a host of health problems.

In our race for quick-fix solutions and in moments of self-denial, it is easier to blame our genes and even the weather for our hair falling out and for terrible skin than admit that we are leading toxic lifestyles or that emotional baggage or one’s personality type could be responsible.

So where am I going with all this? It’s actually very simple. MindHeal Homeopathy is a system of medicine that rebalances your biochemistry, corrects deficiencies and diminishes excesses to raise your body to its optimal level of functioning. And all this with purely natural remedies derived from the natural world. Yes, I mean those “good old pills and powders”.

The ‘secret’ to achieving these dramatic – and completely satisfying – results lies in administering the right homeoapthic remedy. And that’s where MindHeal Homeopathy's skill, experience and intuition come into play.

The good doctor Grey suggests that we need to “control” ageing. I say it’s not about forcing back the hands of time; it’s about rebalancing your biochemistry and making life choices that bring out the best in you. When that realisation dawns, you can sip all you want from the fountain of youth.

Here, check out Minti's Moment of Truth...

MINDHEAL: BEFORE

MINDHEAL: AFTER

Aw, she's one happy customer, isn't she?

 
Re-awaken the healer in you...

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to crm@mindheal.com. Website: www.mindheal.org. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.

When The Eyes Cry, The Body Weeps

In the video below, watch ‘The Amazing Journey Of Mrs Karnik’. But before we discuss this unique case, some thoughts…

I am fortunate to live on a rather leafy, green road, which is a rarity in Mumbai. But the reality of just how beautiful my neighbourhood really is came home to me in a simple, fleeting moment the other day.

I was walking towards my gate when a crisp, brown leaf, its edges curled beautifully, floated down from a tree and rested at my feet – nothing less than a message from the universe.

Life's colours lie in the details

I was startled. Rather, the fine detail of my observation startled me. It was afternoon and I was returning home for a lunch break between morning and evening sessions at my clinic. I was a little fatigued and looking forward to a hearty lunch.

Yet I noticed the wafting leaf and marveled at this natural wonder. It was a wake-up call. Yes, I need to live the moment – every fleeting moment – and not let them slip past unnoticed.

Many of us are like passengers seated at the window of an express train, with the passing landscape nothing more than a blur. Most of us live in fast-forward mode barely conscious of the little things that could bring us so much joy.

Is time just a blur?

Most of us never really live the moment. We trundle on, burdened by the past, preoccupied with future plans, fearful of what’s around the next corner, guilty about lost chances, depressed about betrayals and failures, anxious about finances and bracing ourselves for the sheer enormity of the tasks we assign ourselves every day, day after exhausting day.

But what does all this have to do with homeopathy? Nothing. Yet everything. The mind and body are inextricably linked, inseparable and locked in wonderful harmony. They work in perfect unison, one impacting on the other during every nano-second.

When one begins to flag, the other does too. When we stop living the moment, and when life deals us some pretty heavy blows, the emotional burden grows too heavy. Our psychological and physical resources get exhausted and the body slips into defensive mode.

Stress changes biochemistry

Changes begin to take place at the biochemical level, and as the immune system and metabolic processes grow weaker, the body tries to cope and compensate any way it can. When the stress and strain don’t let up, these coping mechanisms persist and become self-defeating. That is, the body repeatedly tries to achieve a normal state of functioning but it fails with every successive attempt.

Since sustained stress induces biochemical and physiological changes that are unhealthy, these coping mechanisms too are skewed. But under the circumstances, they are the best the body can do.

Since they are skewed, these coping mechanisms are destructive, and because they never achieve their objective, they are self-defeating. Finally, since they are repetitive, they become our body’s default setting, as it were.

These destructive processes are thus a vain attempt to return the body to a state of balance. They play on our inherent predispositions, either genetic or acquired, and it is this which usually determines the specific type of illness an individual develops.

Mrs Karnik

This is usually the path to chronic illnesses such as asthma, allergies, renal failure, diabetes, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome and AIDS. Hence, these disorders are nothing but failed attempts by the body to correct a serious and chronic imbalance.

This is precisely what happened to one of my patients, Mrs Sushma Karnik, a school teacher who gave up everything that was dear to her when she got married. Next, she suffered a series of other personal setbacks. All this left her with a sense of powerlessness over her predicament, which in turn led to an attitude of silent grief.

Mrs Karnik’s mind and body mourned what she had lost and they never stopped mourning. Repressed anger piled up, and as it did, it set in motion a chain of destructive events in her body.

While watching the video below, notice the visible transformation in Mrs Karnik, as she goes from being trapped in a diseased state when she arrived at my clinic, to ‘venting’ her symptoms after treatment began, to finally becoming the ‘former’ Mrs Karnik.

The first dramatic and visible change took place no more than two weeks after she approached MindHeal Homeopathy. Her most visible symptoms – chronic and severe psoriatic eczema and arthritis – cleared up in 13 months.

Here, take a look. (Video: 5.40 min)

For more details, download pdf on The Amazing Healing Journey of Mrs Karnik.

My message this week: Take time to smell the roses. Living the moment

is refreshing, it’s healing and and it’s liberating.

It's the little things that count

Re-awaken the healer in you...

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to crm@mindheal.com. Website: www.mindheal.org. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.

The Best of MindHeal: Exclusive Webcast Preview

It was like stepping into a pair of old, familiar boots. And I’ve been told there’s no remedy, homeopathy included, for the teaching bug!

First, a big thank you to everyone for attending my Live Webcast on ‘New Horizons in Homeopathy’ on Sunday, September 5, Teacher’s Day. I’ve taught students and doctors at various levels, in both India and abroad, but there’s nothing like reaching out everyone in real time, all at once!

(I will be uploading the recorded version of my live Webcast soon but for readers of my blog, click here for an exclusive sneak preview ahead of the full version!)

The last seminar I hosted was in April this year. It was a delightful experience (A warm hello to student-doctors in Brazil and Germany!) and it’s always thrilling to breach geographical borders and reach out to new cultures. It is also a learning experience for me as much as it is for those with whom I interact. And I am very grateful for that opportunity.

Now here’s the big news – I’ve decided to make that leap into the virtual classroom on an ongoing and consistent basis. It’s an idea I’ve been toying with for a while now but after the heart-warming response I received on Sunday, I am finally ready to take the plunge.

So, on the cards very soon are online courses for homeopathy students and practitioners. I plan to design courses for different levels, from basic to advanced, and to host separate courses for students and doctors.
.

But the response to Sunday’s online lecture-demo was encouraging for another important reason. It is a statistical fact that, globally, more and more people are turning to holistic medicine. Disillusioned with allopathic medicine, there is a definite trend towards recognising the merits of respecting the human body and its integrity, and its awesome power to self-heal and rejuvenate.

That’s where MindHeal Homeopathy steps in. Just as with any system of medicine, there are various perspectives of the same system, including every branch of holistic medicine such as ayurveda, naturopathy, yoga and homeopathy.

I have had the benefit of learning the science of homeopathy from two of the biggest stalwarts based in India. Taking the best of what I learnt during my journey with them and from my vast experiences over the last two decades as a practitioner, I have evolved MindHeal Homeopathy.

I believe every human being is a unified, dynamic being and that the mind and body are inseparable entities in both disease and health. Experience has taught me that placing equal emphasis on both aspects brings about the most amazing, the quickest and the most lasting results. My patients’ recovery and their testimonies bear witness to this basic tenet.

My Webcast on Sunday was a step in that direction – a public re-affirmation of my belief in this approach and its efficacy.

So here’s raising a toast to re-affirmations and re-awakenings!

Re-awaken the healer in you...

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to crm@mindheal.org. Website: www.mindheal.org. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.

To All My Students... LIVE Webcast

(I had planned to conclude the two-part series I began in my last post on the disease process and healing. But it’s time for ‘breaking news’ and I simply have to share it with you! But do look forward to a special message in the second part of the series... soon!)

Well, it’s an exciting time for me and I am looking forward to September 5, Teacher’s Day, for more reasons than one.

Having taught the science homeopathy for more than two decades, I decided to do something different this year. So from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm (IST) on Sunday, I will be sitting at my desk, beaming my first-ever live webcast to 36 homeopathic colleges across Maharashtra.

(To log into my Webcast live, email me at crm@mindheal.org. A recorded version will be available early next week. Watch this space!)

The Information Superhighway is a wondrous invention and it allows me to continue - and innovate - my journey as a teacher. Thanks to the Internet, I will reach out live to hundreds of students in a way I could never have dreamed of a few years ago.

So, being a personal and professional milestone, I’ve decided to talk about New Horizons In Homeopathy, distilling what I have learnt from my own teachers and from my practice, over the last 21 years. My lecture-demo will include the application of homeopathy to the New Age and new mindsets in both patients and practitioners.

Here's the invite I've sent out

 

I am thus dedicating this webcast to my mentors, as an expression of gratitude to those who have passed on the science and skill of this extraordinary system of health and healing to me.

In the initial years of my career, it was the renowned Dr Rajan Sankaran who mentored me. I studied and then practised alongside Dr Sankaran, who is known for his path-breaking understanding of ‘mind symptoms’, his classification of remedy states and his additions to the existing miasms or disease states. It was from him that I learnt the nuances of history taking, which is so very crucial to the practice of this holistic system.

Taking homeopathy to foreign shores

Almost a decade later, I joined the Predictive School of Homeopathy founded by the renowned Dr Prafull Vijaykar. It was Dr Vijaykar’s deep insights into miasms, and his Chart of Suppression that added an invaluable dimension to my learning curve and cemented the foundation on which I stand.

I have also drawn from the teachings of many others who have left their mark on this holistic science. These greats include Dr Jan Scholten and Dr George Vithoulkas. Thanks to all my mentors, I have thus evolved my own scientific approach called MindHeal Homeopathy.

So on September 5, I will share the insights I gained as well as those I developed, in the hope that I can open a window to a science and a philosophy that will make my student-audience wholesome doctors.

Highlights of The Webcast

•  Pathological and incurable cases presented with videos tracing the disease process and its reversal with follow-ups. Presentations will illustrate how homeopathy can bring about a complete transformation on the mental and physical levels.

• Illustrating how various approaches can evolve and coalesce into a single, coherent system of homeopathy.
• An in-depth study of the Materia Medica

I cannot sign off without thanking the Indian Institute of Homeopathic Physicians, Mumbai Branch, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, who have made this webcast possible.

So wish me luck and, of course, Happy Teacher’s Day!

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

PS: I’ll keep you posted!

MindHeal Homeopathy is based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to crm@mindheal.org. Website: www.mindheal.org. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.