Fasting
Next in importance to building up the blood on a natural basis is the elimination of waste, morbid matter and poisons from the system. This depends to a large extent upon the right (natural) diet; but it must be promoted by the different methods of eliminative treatment: fasting, hydrotherapy, massage, physical exercise, air-and sunbaths and, in the way of medicinal treatment, by homeopathic, herb and vitochemical remedies.
Foremost among the methods of purification stands fasting, which of late years has become quite popular and is regarded by many people as a panacea for all human ailments. However, it is a two-edged sword. According to circumstances, it may do a great deal of good or a great deal of harm.
Kuhne, the German pioneer of Nature Cure, claimed that "disease is a unit," that it consists in the accumulation of waste and morbid matter in the system. Since his time, many "naturists" claim that fasting offers the best and quickest means for eliminating systemic poisons and other encumbrances.
To "fast it out" seems simple and plausible, but it does not always prove to be successful in practice. Fasting enthusiasts forget that the elimination of waste and morbid matter from the system is more of a chemical than a mechanical process. They also overlook the fact that in many cases lowered vitality and weakened powers of resistance precede and make possible the accumulation of morbid matter in the organism.
If the encumbrances consist merely of superfluous flesh and fat or of accumulated waste materials, fasting may be sufficient to break up the accumulations and to eliminate the impurities that are clogging blood and tissues.
If, however, the disease has its origin in other than mechanical causes, or if it is due to a weakened, negative constitution and lowered powers of resistance, fasting may aggravate the abnormal conditions instead of improving them.
We hear frequently of long fasts, extending over days and weeks, undertaken recklessly without the prescription and guidance of a competent medical adviser, without proper preparation of the system and the right subsequent treatment. Many a good constitution has thus been permanently injured and wrecked.
When Fasting Is Indicated
Persons of sanguine, vital temperament, with the animal qualities strongly developed, enslaved by bad habits and evil passions, will be greatly benefited by occasional short fasts. In such cases, the experience affords a fine drill in self-discipline, strengthening of self-control and conquest of the lower appetites.
Vigorous, fleshy people, positive physically and mentally, especially those who do not take sufficient physical exercise, should take frequent fasts of one, two, or three days' duration for the reduction of superfluous flesh and fat and for the elimination of systemic waste and other morbid materials. Such people should never eat more than two meals a day, and many get along best on one meal.
However, different temperaments and constitutions require different treatment and management. People of a nervous, emotional temperament, especially those who are below normal in weight and physically and mentally negative, may be seriously and permanently injured by fasting. They should never fast except in acute diseases and during eliminative healing crises, when Nature calls for the fast as a means of cure.
People of this type are usually thin, with weak and flabby muscles. Their vital activities are at a low ebb and their magnetic envelopes (aura) are wasted and attenuated like their physical bodies. The red aura, which is created by the action of the purely animal functions and forces, is more or less deficient or entirely lacking. Such people have the tendency to become abnormally sensitive to conditions in the magnetic field (the astral plane).
Next to the hypnotic or mediumistic process, there is nothing that induces abnormal psychism so quickly as fasting. During a prolonged fast, the purely animal functions of digestion, assimilation and elimination are almost completely at a standstill. This depression of the physical functions arouses and increases the psychic functions and may produce intense emotionalism and abnormal activity of the senses of the spiritual-material body, the individual thus becoming abnormally clairvoyant, clairaudient and otherwise sensitive to conditions on the spiritual planes of life.
This explains the spiritual exaltation and the visions of heavenly scenes and beings or the fights with demons which are frequently, indeed uniformly, reported by hermits, ascetics, saints, yogi, fakirs and dervishes.
Fasting facilitates hypnotic control of the sensitive by positive intelligences either on the physical or on the spiritual plane of being. In the one case we speak of hypnotism, in the other of mediumship, obsession or possession. These conditions are usually diagnosed by the regular practitioner as nervousness, nervous prostration, hysteria, paranoia, delusional insanity, double personality, mania, etc.
The destructive effects of fasting are intensified by solitude, grief, worry, introspection, religious exaltation or any other form of depressive or destructive mental and emotional activity.
Spirit controls often force their subjects to abstain from food, thus rendering them still more negative and submissive. Psychic patients, when controlled or obsessed, will frequently not eat unless they are forced or fed like an infant. When asked why they do not want to eat, these patients reply: "I mustn't. They will not let me." When we say: "Who?" the answer is: "These people. Don't you see them?" pointing to a void, and becoming impatient when told that no one is there. The regular school says delusion; we call it abnormal clairvoyance.
In other instances the control tells the subject that his food and drink are poisoned or unclean. To the obsessed victim these suggestions are absolute reality.
To place persons of the negative, sensitive type on prolonged fasts and thus to expose them to the dangers just described is little short of criminal. Such patients need an abundance of the most positive animal and vegetable foods in order to build up and strengthen their physical bodies and their magnetic envelopes, which form the dividing and protecting wall between the terrestrial plane and the magnetic field.
A negative vegetarian diet, consisting principally of fruits, nuts, cereal and pulses, but deficient in animal foods (the dairy products, eggs, honey) and in the vegetables growing in or near the ground may result in conditions similar to those which accompany prolonged fasting.
Animal foods are elaborated under the influence of a higher life-element* than that controlling the vegetable kingdom, and foods derived from the animal kingdom are necessary to develop and stimulate the positive qualities in man.
*This subject will be treated more fully in another volume of this series entitled "Natural Dietitics."
In the case of the psychic, who is already deficient in the physical (animal) and overdeveloped in the spiritual qualities, it is especially necessary, in order to restore and maintain the lost equilibrium, to build up in him the animal qualities.
How to Take an Occasional Therapeutic Fast
Before, during and after a therapeutic fast, everything must be done to keep elimination active, in order to prevent the reabsorption of the toxins that are being stirred up and liberated.
Fasting involves rapid breaking down of the tissues. This creates great quantities of worn-out cell materials and other morbid substances. Unless these poison-producing accumulations are promptly eliminated, they will be reabsorbed into the system and cause autointoxication.
To prevent this, bowels, kidneys and skin must be kept in active condition. The diet, for several days before and after the fast, should consist largely of uncooked fruits and vegetables and the different methods of natural stimulative treatment to assure proper bowel action should be systematically applied.
During a fast, every bit of vitality must be economized; therefore the passive treatments are to be preferred to active exercise, although a certain amount of exercise (especially walking) daily in the open air accompanied by deep breathing should not be neglected.
While fasting, intestinal evacuation usually ceases, especially where there is a natural tendency to sluggishness of the bowels. Injections [salt and baking soda enemas are best] are therefore in order and during prolonged fasts may be taken every few days.
By prolonged fasts we understand fasts that last from one to four weeks, short fasts being those of one, two or three days' duration.
Moderate drinking is beneficial during a fast as well as at other times; but excessive consumption of water, the so-called flushing of the system, is very injurious. Under ordinary conditions from five to eight glasses of water a day are probably sufficient; the quantity consumed must be regulated by the desire of the patient.
Those who are fasting should mix their drinking water with the juice of acid fruits, preferably lemon, orange or grapefruit. These juices act as eliminators and are fine natural antiseptics.
Never use distilled water, whether during a fast or at any other time. Deprived of its own mineral constituents, distilled water leeches the mineral elements and organic salts out of the tissues of the body and thereby intensifies dysemic [blood deterioration] conditions.
While fasting, the right mental attitude is all-important. Unless you can do it with perfect equanimity, without fear or misgiving, do not fast at all. Destructive mental conditions may more than offset the beneficial effects of the fast.
To recapitulate: Never undertake a prolonged fast unless you have been properly prepared by natural diet and treatment, and never without the guidance of a competent Nature Cure doctor.
Fasting in Chronic Diseases
At all times some of our patients can be found fasting; but they do not begin until the right physiological and psychological moment has arrived, until the fast is indicated. When the organism, or rather the individual cell, is ready to begin the work of elimination, then assimilation should cease for the time being, because it interferes with the excretory processes going on in the system.
To fast before the system is ready for it, means mineral salts starvation and defective elimination.
Given a vigorous, positive constitution, encumbered with too much flesh and with a tendency to chronic constipation, rheumatism, gout, apoplexy and other diseases due to food poisoning, a fast may be indicated from the beginning. But it is different with persons of the weak, negative type.
Ordinarily, the organism resembles a huge sponge, which absorbs the elements of nutrition from the digestive tract. During a fast the process is reversed, the sponge is being squeezed and gives off the impurities contained in it.
However, this is a purely mechanical process and deals only with the mechanical aspect of disease: with the presence of waste matter in the system. It does not take into consideration the chemical aspect of disease. We have learned that most of the morbid matter in the system has its origin in the acid waste products of starchy and protein digestion.
In rheumatism and gout, the colloid (glue-like) and earthy deposits collect in the joints and muscular tissues; in arteriosclerosis, in the arteries and veins; in paralysis, epilepsy and kindred diseases, in brain and nerve tissues.
The accumulation of these waste products is due, in turn, to a deficiency in the system of the alkaline, acid-binding and acid-eliminating mineral elements. In point of fact, almost every form of disease is characterized by a lack of these organic mineral salts in blood and tissues.
Stones, gravel (calculi), etc., grow in acid blood only, and must be dissolved and eliminated by rendering the blood alkaline. This is accomplished by the absorption of the alkaline salts, contained most abundantly in the juicy fruits, the leafy and juicy vegetables, the hulls of cereals and in milk.
How, then, are these all-important solvents and eliminators to be supplied to the organism by total abstinence from food?
Prolonged fasting undoubtedly lowers the patient's vitality and powers of resistance. But natural elimination of waste products and systemic poisons (healing crises) depends upon increased vitality and activity of the organism and the individual cells that compose it.
For these reasons we find, in most cases, that proper adjustment of the diet, both as to quality and quantity, together with the different forms of natural corrective and stimulative treatment, must precede the fasting.
The great majority of chronic patients have become chronics because their skin, kidneys, intestines and other organs of elimination are in a sluggish, atrophied condition. As a result, their system is overloaded with morbid matter.
Moreover, during the fast the system has to live on its own tissues, which are being broken down rapidly. This results in the production and liberation of additional large quantities of morbid matter and poisons, which must be eliminated promptly to prevent their reabsorption.
However, the atrophic condition of the organs of elimination makes this impossible and there are not enough alkaline mineral elements to neutralize the destructive acids. Therefore the impurities remain and accumulate in the system and may cause serious aggravations and complications.
Is it not wiser first of all to build up the blood on a normal basis by natural diet and to put the organs of elimination in good working order by the natural methods of treatment before fasting is enforced? This is, indeed, the only rational procedure and will always be followed by the best possible results.
When, under the influence of a rational diet, the blood has regained its normal composition, when mechanical obstructions to the free flow of blood and nerve currents have been removed by manipulative treatment, when skin, kidneys, bowels, nerves and nerve centers, in fact, every cell in the body has been stimulated into vigorous activity by the various methods of natural treatment, then the cells themselves begin to eliminate their morbid encumbrances. The waste materials are carried in the blood stream to the organs of elimination and incite them to acute reactions or healing crises in the form of diarrheas, catarrhal discharges, fevers, inflammations, skin eruptions, boils, abscesses, etc.
Now the sponge is being squeezed and cleansed of its impurities in a natural manner. The mucous membranes of stomach and bowels are called upon to assist in the work of housecleaning; hence the coated tongue, lack of appetite, digestive disturbances, nausea, biliousness, sour stomach, fermentation, flatulence and occasionally vomiting and purging.
These digestive disturbances are always accompanied by mental depression, the blues, homesickness, irritability, fear, hopelessness, etc.
With the advent of these cleansing and healing crises the physiological and psychological moment for fasting has arrived. All the processes of assimilation are at a standstill. The entire organism is eliminating.
We have learned that these healing crises usually arrive during the sixth week of natural treatment.
To take food now would mean to force assimilation and thereby to stop elimination and perchance to interfere with or to check a beneficial healing crisis.
Therefore we regard it as absolutely essential to stop eating as soon as any form of acute elimination makes its appearance and we do not give any food except acid fruit juices diluted with water until all signs of acute eliminative activity have subsided, whether this require a few days or a few weeks or a few months.
Some time ago I treated a severe case of typhoid malaria. No food, except water mixed with a little orange or lemon juice, passed the lips of the patient for eight weeks. When all disease symptoms had disappeared, we allowed a few days for the rebuilding of the intestinal mucous membranes. Thereafter food was administered with the usual precautions. The patient gained rapidly and within six weeks weighed more than before the fever. During the entire period I saw the patient only twice, the simple directions being carried out faithfully by his relatives.
Hydrotherapy Treatment of Chronic Disease
While in our treatment of acute diseases we use wet packs and cold ablutions to promote the radiation of heat and thereby to reduce the fever temperature, our aim in the treatment of chronic diseases is to arouse the system to acute eliminative effort. In other words, while in acute disease our hydropathic treatment is sedative, in chronic diseases it is stimulative.
The Good Effects of Cold-Water Applications
(1) Stimulation of the Circulation. As before stated, cold water applied to the surface of the body arouses and stimulates the circulation all over the system. Blood counts before and after a cold-water application show a very marked increase in the number of red and white blood corpuscles. This does not mean that the cold water has in a moment created new blood cells, but it means that the blood has been stirred up and sent hurrying through the system, that the lazy blood cells which were lying inactively in the sluggish and stagnant blood stream and in the clogged and obstructed tissues are aroused to increased activity.
Undoubtedly, the invigorating and stimulating influence of cold sprays, ablutions, sitz baths, barefoot walking in the dewy grass or on wet stones and all other cold-water applications depends largely upon their electromagnetic effects upon the system. This has been explained in Chapter Ten, "Natural Treatment of Acute Diseases."
(2) Elimination of Impurities. As the cold water drives the blood with increased force through the system, it flushes the capillaries in the tissues and cleanses them from the accumulations of morbid matter and poisons which are one of the primary causes of acute and chronic diseases.
As the blood rushes back to the surface it suffuses the skin, opens and relaxes the pores and the minute blood vessels or capillaries and thus unloads its impurities through the skin.
Why We Favor Cold Water
In the treatment of chronic diseases some advocates of natural methods of healing still favor warm or hot applications in the form of hot-water baths, different kinds of steam or sweat baths, electric light baths, hot compresses, fomentations, etc.
However, the great majority of Nature Cure practitioners in Germany have abandoned hot applications of any kind almost entirely because of their weakening and enervating aftereffects and because in many instances they have not only failed to produce the expected results, but aggravated the disease conditions.
We can explain the different effects of hot and cold water as well as of all other therapeutic agents upon the system by the Law of Action and Reaction. Applied to physics, this law reads: "Action and reaction are equal but opposite." I have adapted the Law of Action and Reaction to therapeutics in a somewhat circumscribed way as follows: "Every therapeutic agent affecting the human organism has a primary, temporary, and a secondary, permanent effect. The secondary, lasting effect is contrary to the primary, transient effect."
The first, temporary effect of warmth above the body temperature, whether it be applied in the form of hot air or water, steam or light, is to draw the blood into the surface. Immediately after such an application the skin will be red and hot.
The secondary and lasting effect, however (in accordance with the Law of Action and Reaction), is that the blood recedes into the interior of the body and leaves the skin in a bloodless and enervated condition subject to chills and predisposed to "catching cold."
On the other hand, the first, transient effect of cold-water applications upon the body as a whole or any particular part is to chill the surface and send the blood scurrying inward, leaving the skin in a chilled, bloodless condition. This lack of blood and sensation of cold are at once telegraphed over the afferent nerves to headquarters in the brain, and from there the command goes forth to the nerve centers regulating the circulation: "Send blood into the surface!"
As a result, the circulation is stirred up and accelerated throughout the system and the blood rushes with force into the depleted skin, flushing the surface of the body with warm, red blood and restoring to it the rosy color of health. This is the secondary effect. In other words, the well-applied cold-water treatment is followed by a good reaction and this is accompanied by many permanent beneficial results.
The drawing and eliminating primary effect of hot applications, of sweat baths, etc., is at best only temporary, lasting only a few minutes and is always followed by a weakening reaction, while the drawing and eliminating action of the cold-water applications, being the secondary, lasting effect, exerts an enduring, invigorating and tonic influence upon the skin which enables it to throw off morbid matter not merely for ten or fifteen minutes, as in the sweat bath under the infiuence of excessive heat, but continually, by day and night.
The Danger of Prolonged or
Excessively Cold Applications
As we have pointed out in the chapter dealing with water treatment in acute diseases, only water at ordinary temperature, as it comes from well or faucet, should be used in hydropathic applications. It is positively dangerous to apply ice bags to an inflamed organ or to use icy water for packs and ablutions in febrile conditions.
Likewise, ice or icy water should not be used in the hydropathic treatment of chronic diseases. Excessive cold is as suppressive in its effects upon the organism as are poisonous antiseptics or antifever medicines.
The baths, sprays, douches, etc., should not be kept up too long. The duration of the cold-water applications must be regulated by the individual conditions of the patient and by his powers of reaction; but it should be borne in mind that it is the short, quick application that produces the stimulating, electromagnetic effects upon the system.
In the following pages are described some of the baths and other cold-water applications that are especially adapted to the treatment of chronic diseases.
How to Keep the Feet Warm
The proverb says: "Keep the head cool and the feet warm." This is good advice, but most people attempt to follow it by "doctoring" their cold feet with hot-water bottles, warming pans, hot bricks or irons, etc. These are excellent means of making the feet still colder, because "heat makes cold and cold makes heat."
In accordance with the Law of Action and Reaction, hot applications drive the blood away from the feet, while cold applications draw the blood to the feet. Therefore, if your feet are cold and bloodless (which means that the blood is congested in other parts of the body), walk barefoot in the dewy grass, in a cool brook, on wet stone pavements or on the snow.
Instead of putting a hot-water bottle to the feet of a bedridden invalid, bathe his feet with cold water, adding a little salt for its electric effect, then rub and knead (massage), and finish with a magnetic treatment by holding his feet between your hands and willing the blood to flow into them. This will have a lasting good effect not only upon the feet, but upon the entire organism.
The following cold-water applications are very effective for curing chronic cold feet:
(1) Foot Bath
Stand in cold water reaching up to the ankle for one minute only. Dry the feet with a coarse towel and rub them vigorously with the hands, or walk about briskly for a few minutes. Repeat if necessary.
(2) Leg Bath
(a) Stand in water up to the calves, then proceed as above.
(b) Stand in water up to the knees, then rub vigorously or walk as directed.
(3) Barefoot Walking
Walk barefoot in wet grass or on wet stone pavements several times a day, from ten to twenty minutes at a time, or less in case of weakness. The early morning dew upon the grass is especially beneficial; later in the day wet the grass or pavement with a hose.
After barefoot walking, dry and rub the feet thoroughly and take a short, brisk walk in shoes and stockings.
(4) Indoor Water-Treading
Stand in a bathtub or large foottub containing about two inches of cold water, step and splash vigorously for several minutes, then dry and rub the feet and increase the circulation by walking around the room a few times.
(5) Foot Spray
Turn the full force of water from a hydrant or hose first on one foot, then on the other. Let the stream play alternately on the upper part of the feet and on the soles. The coldness and force of the water will draw the blood to the feet.
These applications are excellent as a means of stimulating and equalizing the circulation and a sure cure for cold and clammy feet, as well as for sweaty feet.
In this connection, we warn our readers most strongly against the use of drying powders or antiseptic washes to suppress foot-sweat. Epilepsy and other serious nervous disorders have been traced to this practice.
(6) Partial Ablutions
Partial ablutions with cold water are very useful in many instances, especially in local inflammation or where local congestion is to be relieved. The "Kalte Guss" [cold water splashing] forms an important feature of the Kneipp system of water cure.
Sprays or showers may be administered to the head, arms, chest, back, thighs, knees or wherever indicated, with a dipper, a sprinkler or a hose attached to the faucet or hydrant. The water should be of natural temperature and the "guss" of short duration.
(7) Limb Bath
Take up cold water in the hollow of the hands from a running faucet or a bucket filled with water, rub arms and legs briskly for a few minutes.
(8) Upper Body Bath
Stand in an empty tub, take water in the hollow of the hands from a running faucet or a bucket filled with cold water and rub briskly the upper half of the body from neck to hips, for two or three minutes. Use a towel or brush for those parts of the body that you cannot reach with the hands.
(9) Lower Body Bath
Proceed as in (8), rubbing the lower part of the body from the waist downward.
(10) Hip Bath
Sit in a large basin or in the bathtub in enough water to cover the hips completely, the legs resting on the door or against the sides of the tub. While taking the hip bath, knead and rub the abdomen.
Dry with a coarse towel, then rub and pat the skin with the hands for a few minutes.
The duration of the hip bath and the temperature of the water must be adapted to individual conditions. Until you are accustomed to cold water, use water as cool as can be borne without discomfort.
(11) The Morning Cold Rub
The essentials for a cold rub, and in fact for every cold-water treatment, are warmth of the body before the application, coolness of the water (natural temperature), rapidity of action and friction or exercise to stimulate the circulation. No cold-water treatment should be taken when the body is in a chilled condition.
Directly from the warmth of the bed, or after sunbath and exercise have produced a pleasant glow, go to the bathroom, sit in the empty tub with the stopper in place, turn on the cold water, and as it flows into the tub, catch it in the hollow of the hands and wash first the limbs, then the abdomen, then chest and back. Throw the water all over the body and rub the skin with the hands like you wash your face.
Do this quickly but thoroughly. The entire procedure need not take up more than a few minutes. By the time the bath is finished, there may be from two to four inches of water in the tub. Use a towel or brush for the back if you cannot reach it otherwise.
As long as there is a good reaction, the "cold rub" may be taken in an unheated bathroom even in cold weather.
After the bath, dry the body quickly with a coarse towel and finish by rubbing with the hands until the skin is dry and smooth and you are aglow with the exercise, or expose the wet body to the fresh air before an open window and rub with the hands until dry and warm.
A bath taken in this manner combines the beneficial effects of cold water, air, exercise and the magnetic friction of the hands on the body (life on life). No lifeless instrument or mechanical appliance can equal the dexterity, warmth and magnetism of the human hand.
The bath must be so conducted that it is followed by a feeling of warmth and comfort. Some persons will be benefited by additional exercise or, better still, a brisk walk in the open air, while others will get better results by returning to the warmth of the bed.
There is no better means for stimulating the general circulation and for increasing the eliminative activities of the system than this cold morning rub at the beginning of the day after the night's rest. If kept up regularly, its good effects will soon become apparent.
This method of taking a morning bath is to be preferred to the plunge into a tub filled with cold water. While persons with very strong constitutions may experience no ill effects, to those who are weak and do not react readily, the cold plunge might prove a severe shock and strain upon the system.
When a bathtub is not available, take the morning cold rub in the following manner:
Stand in an empty washtub. In front of you, in the tub, place a basin or bucket filled with cold water. Wet the hands or a towel and wash the body, part by part, from the feet upward, then dry and rub with the hands as directed.
(12) The Evening Sitz Bath
The morning cold rub is stimulating in its effects, the evening sitz bath is quieting and relaxing. The latter is therefore especially beneficial if taken just before going to bed.
The cold water draws the blood from brain and spinal cord and thereby insures better rest and sleep. It cools and relaxes the abdominal organs, sphincters, and orifices, stimulates gently and naturally the action of the bowels and of the urinary tract, and is equally effective in chronic constipation and in affections of the kidneys or bladder.
The sitz bath is best taken in the regular sitz bathtub made for the purpose, but an ordinary bathtub or a washtub or pan may be used with equally good effect.
Pour into the vessel a few inches of water at natural temperature, as it comes from the faucet, and sit in the water until a good reaction takes place—that is, until the first sensation of cold is followed by a feeling of warmth. This may take from a few seconds to a few minutes, according to the temperature of the water and the individual powers of reaction.
Dry with a coarse towel, rub and pat the skin with the hands, then, in order to establish good reaction, practice deep breathing for a few minutes, alternating with the internal massage described in a later chapter.
(13) The Head Bath
Loss or discoloration of the hair is generally due to the lack of hair-building elements in the blood or to sluggish circulation in the scalp and a diseased condition of the hair follicles. Nothing more effectually stimulates the flow of blood to brain and scalp or promotes the elimination of waste matter and poisons from these parts than the head bath together with scalp massage.
Under no circumstances use hair tonics, dandruff or eczema cures, or hair dyes. All such preparations contain poisons or at any rate strong antiseptics and germcides. Dandruff is a form of elimination and should not be suppressed. When the scalp is in good condition, it will disappear of its own accord.
The Diagnosis from the Eye reveals the fact that glycerine, quinine, resorcin and other poisonous antiseptics and stimulants absorbed from scalp cures and hair tonics and deposited in the brain are in many cases the real cause of chronic headaches, neuralgia, dizziness, roaring in the ears, loss of hearing and sight, mental depression, irritability and even insanity.
Cold water is an absolutely safe and at the same time a most effective means to promote the growth of hair, as many of our patients can testify.
Whenever you have occasion to wash the face, wash also the head thoroughly with cold water. While doing so, vigorously pinch, knead and massage the scalp with the finger tips. When feasible, turn the stream from a hydrant or a hose upon the head. This will add the good effect of friction to the coldness of the water.
Have your hair cut only during the third quarter of the moon. The ladies may clip off the ends of their hair during that period. Skeptics may smile at this as another evidence of ignorance and superstition. However, "fools deride," etc. The country people in many parts of Europe, who are much closer and wiser observers of Nature and her ways than the conceited wise men of the schools, do their sowing and reaping in accordance with the phases of the moon. In order to insure vigorous growth, they sow and plant during the growing moon; but their cutting and reaping is done during the waning moon.
(14) The Eye Bath
For the eye bath the temperature of the water should be as cold as the sensitive eyeball can stand, but not cold enough to cause serious discomfort. A few grains of salt may be added to make the water slightly saline.
Submerge forehead and eyes in a basin of water, open and close the lids under water from six to eight times; repeat a few times. Bend over a basin filled with water and with the hands dash the water into the open eyes. Fill a glass eye-cup (which can be bought in any drug store or department store) with water, bend the head forward and press the cup securely against the eye; then bend backward and open and shut the lid a number of times.
Many ailments of the eyes, for instance, the much-dreaded cataract, are caused by defective circulation and the accumulation of impurities and poisons in the system in general and in the mechanism of the eyes in particular. All such cases yield readily to our combination of natural methods of treatment, such as water applications, massage and special exercises, combined with the general Nature Cure regimen.
In a large number of cases treated in our sanitarium, patients who had worn glasses for years were able to discard them. Weakened eyesight and many serious so-called incurable affections of the eye, including cataract and glaucoma, have been permanently cured.
Air and Light Baths
Even among the adherents of Nature Cure there are those who think that air and light baths should be taken out of doors in warm weather only and in winter time only in well-heated rooms.
This is a mistake. The effect of the air bath upon the organism is subject to the same Law of Action and Reaction which governs the effects of water applications.
If the temperature of air or water is the same or nearly the same as that of the body, no reaction takes place, the conditions within the system remain the same. But if the temperature of air or water is considerably lower than the body temperature there will be a reaction.
In order to react against the chilling effect of cold air or water, the nerve centers which control the circulation send the blood to the surface in large quantities, flushing the skin with warm, red, arterial blood. The flow of the blood stream is greatly accelerated, and the elimination of morbid matter on the surface of the body is correspondingly increased.
What Is the Cause of Poor Skin Action?
Man is naturally an air animal. He breathes with the pores of the skin as well as with the lungs. However, the custom of hiding the body under dense, heavy clothing, thus excluding it from the life-giving influence of air and light, together with the habit of warm bathing, has weakened and enervated the skin of the average individual until it has lost its tonicity and is no longer capable of fulfilling its natural functions.
The compact, almost airtight layers of underwear and outer clothing made of cotton, wool, silk and leather prevent the ventilation of the skin and the escape of the morbid excretions of the body. The skin is an organ of absorption as well as of excretion; consequently the systemic poisons which are eliminated from the organism, if not removed by proper ventilation and bathing, are reabsorbed into the system just like the poisonous exhalations from the lungs are reinhaled and reabsorbed by people congregating in closed rooms or sleeping in unventilated bedrooms.
Who would think of keeping plants or animals continuously covered up, away from the air and light? We know they would wither and waste away, and die before long.
Nevertheless, civilized human beings have for ages hidden their bodies most carefully from sun and air, which are so necessary to their well-being. Is it any wonder that the human cuticle has become withered, enervated and atrophied, that it has lost the power to perform freely and efficiently its functions of elimination and absorption? Undoubtedly, this has much to do with the prevalence of disease.
In the iris of the eye the atrophied condition of the skin is indicated by a heavy, dark rim, the so-called scurf rim. It signifies that the skin has become anemic, the surface circulation sluggish and defective, and that the elimination of morbid matter and systemic poisons through the skin is handicapped and retarded. This, in turn, causes autointoxication and favors the development of all kinds of acute and chronic diseases.
The Importance of the Skin as an Organ of Elimination
Of late physiologists have claimed that the skin is not of great importance as an organ of elimination. Common experience and the Diagnosis from the Eye teach us differently. The black rim seen more or less distinctly in the outer rim of the iris in the eyes of the majority of people has been called the scurf rim, because it was found that this dark rim appears in the iris after the suppression of scurfy and other forms of skin eruptions and after the external or internal use of lotions, ointments and medicines containing mercury, zinc, iodine, arsenic or other poisons which suppress or destroy the life and activity of the skin.
Therefore, when we see in the iris of a person a heavy scurf rim, we can tell him at once: "Your cuticle is in a sluggish, atrophied condition, the surface circulation and elimination through the skin are not good and as a result of this there is a strong tendency to autointoxication, you take cold easily, and suffer from chronic catarrhal conditions." Therefore, a heavy scurf rim frequently indicates what is ordinarily called "a scrofulous condition."
This certainly shows the great importance of the skin as an organ of elimination and the necessity of keeping it in the best possible condition. It explains why an atrophied skin has so much to do with the causation of disease and why in the treatment of both acute and chronic ailments air and cold water produce such wonderful results.
The favorite method of diagnosis employed by Father Kneipp, the great water cure apostle, was to examine the skin of his patients. If the "jacket," as he called it, was in fairly good condition, he predicted a speedy recovery. If he found the "jacket" shriveled and dry, weakened and atrophied, he shook his head and informed the patient that it would take much time and patience to restore him to health. He, as well as other pioneers of the Nature Cure movement, realized that elimination is the keynote in the treatment of acute and chronic diseases.
When Air Baths Should Be Taken
On awakening in the morning and several times during the day, if circumstances permit, expose your nude body to the invigorating influence of the open air and the sunlight.
During the hot season of the year and in tropical countries the best time for taking air and sun baths is the early morning and the late afternoon.
Persons suffering from insomnia or nervousness in any form are in nearly every case greatly benefited by a short air bath taken just before retiring, either preceding or following the evening sitz bath, as may be most convenient.
Where Air Baths Should Be Taken
If at all possible, air baths should be taken out of doors. Every house should have facilities for air and sun baths, that is, an enclosure where the nude body can be exposed to the open air and the sunlight.
If the air bath out of doors is impracticable, it may be taken in front of an open window. But indoor air, even in a well-ventilated room, is more or less stagnant and vitiated, and at best only a poor substitute for the open air.
It is the breezy, moving outdoor air, permeated with sunlight and rich in oxygen and ozone, that generates the electric and magnetic currents which are so stimulating and vitalizing to everything that draws the breath of life.
This is being realized more and more, and air-bath facilities will in the near future be considered as indispensable in the modern, up-to-date house as is now the bathroom.
We predict that before many years the roofs of apartment houses will be utilized for this purpose and people will wonder how they ever got along without the air bath.
Our sanitarium has two large enclosures on its roof, open above and surrounded on all sides by wooden lattice work, which allows the air to circulate freely, but excludes observation from neighboring roofs and windows and the streets below. One compartment is for men and one for women, each provided with gymnastic apparatus and a separate spray room.
How Air Baths Should Be Taken
At first expose the nude body to cool air only for short periods at a time, until the skin becomes inured to it.
Likewise, unless you are well used to the sun, take air baths of short duration, say from ten to twenty minutes, until your skin and your nervous system have become accustomed to the influence of heat and strong light. Prolonged exposure to the glaring rays of the noonday sun might produce severe burning of the skin, aside from a possible harmful effect upon the nervous system.
The novice should protect head and eyes against the fierce rays of sunlight. This is best accomplished by means of a wide-brimmed straw hat of light weight. In cases where dizziness results from the effect of the heat upon the brain, a wet cloth may be swathed around the head or placed inside a straw hat.
It will be found very pleasurable and invigorating to take a cold shower or spray off and on during the sun bath and to allow the air to dry the body. This will also increase its electromagnetic effects upon the system.
The Friction Bath
While taking the air bath, the skin may be rubbed or brushed with a rough towel or a flesh brush in order to remove the excretions and the atrophied cuticle. The friction bath should always be followed by a spray or a cold-water rub.
At the time of the air bath, practice breathing exercises and thecurative gymnastics appropriate to your condition. (See ChaptersTwenty-Eight and Thirty on "Correct Breathing" and "PhysicalExercise.")
If the air bath is taken at night, before retiring, the less active breathing exercises, as numbers 1, 3, 7 and 13, may be taken with good results, but all vigorous stimulating movements should be avoided.
As the plant prospers under the life-giving influence of water and light, so the cuticle of the human skin becomes alive and active under the natural stimulation of water, air and sunlight. From the foregoing paragraphs it will be seen why the air and light baths are regarded among the most important natural methods of treatment in all the great Nature Cure sanitariums of Germany.
Correct Breathing
The lungs are to the body what the bellows are to the fires of the forge. The more regularly and vigorously the air is forced through the bellows and through the lungs, the livelier burns the flame in the smithy and the fires of life in the body.
Practice deep, regular breathing systematically for one week, and you will be surprised at the results. You will feel like a different person, and your working capacity, both physically and mentally, will be immensely increased.
A plentiful supply of fresh air is more necessary than food and drink. We can live without food for weeks, without water for days, but without air only a few minutes.
The Process of Breathing
With every inhalation, air is sucked in through the windpipe or trachea, which terminates in two tubes called bronchi, one leading to the right lung, one to the left. The air is then distributed over the lungs through a network of minute tubes, to the air cells, which are separated by only a thin membrane from equally fine and minute blood vessels forming another network of tubes.
The oxygen contained in the inhaled air passes freely through these membranes, is absorbed by the blood, carried to the heart and thence through the arteries and their branches to the different organs and tissues of the body, fanning the fires of life into brighter flame all along its course and burning up the waste products and poisons that have accumulated during the vital processes of digestion, assimilation and elimination.
After the blood has unloaded its supply of oxygen, it takes up the carbonic acid gas which is produced during the oxidation and combustion of waste matter and carries it to the lungs, where the poisonous gases are transferred to the air cells and expelled with the exhaled breath. This return trip of the blood to the lungs is made through another set of blood vessels, the veins, and the blood, dark with the sewage of the system, is now called venous blood.
In the lungs the venous blood discharges its freight of excrementitious poisons and gases, and by coming in contact with fresh air and a new supply of oxygen, it is again transformed into bright, red arterial blood, pregnant with oxygen and ozone, the life-sustaining elements of the atmosphere.
This explains why normal, deep, regular breathing is all-important to sustain life and as a means of cure. By proper breathing, which exercises and develops every part of the lungs, the capacity of the air cells is increased. This, as we have learned, means also an increased supply of life-sustaining and health-promoting oxygen to the tissues and organs of the body.
Bad Effects of Shallow Breathing
Very few people breathe correctly. Some, especially women, with tight skirtbands and corsets pressing on their vital organs, use only the upper part of their lungs. Others breathe only with the lower part and with the diaphragm, leaving the upper structures of the lungs inactive and collapsed.
In those parts of the lungs that are not used, slimy secretions accumulate, irritating the air cells and other tissues, which become inflamed and begin to decay. Thus a luxuriant soil is prepared for the tubercle bacillus, the pneumococcus and other disease-producing bacilli and germs.
This habit of shallow breathing, which does not allow the lungs to be thoroughly permeated with fresh air, accounts in a measure for the fact that one-third of all deaths result from diseases of the lungs. To one individual perishing from food starvation, thousands are dying from oxygen starvation.
Lung culture is more important than other branches of learning and training which require more time and a greater outlay of time, money and effort. In the Nature Cure regimen, breathing exercises play an important part.
Breathing Exercises
General Directions
The effectiveness of breathing exercises and of all other kinds of corrective movements depends upon the mental attitude during the time of practice. Each motion should be accompanied by the conscious effort to make it produce a certain result. Much more can be accomplished with mental concentration, by keeping your mind on what you are doing, than by performing the exercises in an aimless, indifferent way.
Keep in the open air as much as possible and at all events sleep with windows open.
If your occupation is sedentary, take all opportunities for walking out of doors that present themselves. While walking, breathe regularly and deeply, filling the lungs to their fullest capacity and also expelling as much air as possible at each exhalation. Undue strain should, of course, be avoided. This applies to all breathing exercises.
Do not breathe through the mouth. Nature intends that the outer air shall reach the lungs by way of the nose, whose membranes are lined with fine hairs in order to sift the air and to prevent foreign particles, dust and dirt, from irritating the mucous linings of the air tract and entering the delicate structures of the lungs. Also, the air is warmed before it reaches the lungs by its passage through the nose.
Let the exhalations take about double the time of the inhalations. This will be further explained in connection with rhythmical breathing.
Do not hold the breath between inhalations. Though frequently recommended by teachers of certain methods of breath culture, this practice is more harmful than beneficial.
The Proper Standing Position
Of great importance is the position assumed habitually by the body while standing and walking. Carelessness in this respect is not only unpleasant to the beholder, but its consequences are far-reaching in their effects upon health and the well-being of the organism.
On the other hand, a good carriage of the body aids in the development of muscles and tissues generally and in the proper functioning of cells and organs in particular. With the weight of the body thrown upon the balls of the feet and the center of gravity well focused, the abdominal organs will stay in place and there will be no strain upon the ligaments that support them.
In assuming the proper standing position, stand with your back to the wall, touching it with heels, buttocks, shoulders and head. Now bend the head backward and push the shoulders forward and away from the wall, still touching the wall with buttocks and heels. Straighten the head, keeping the shoulders in the forward position. Now walk away from the wall and endeavor to maintain this position while taking the breathing exercises and practicing the various arm movements.
Take this position as often as possible during the day and try to maintain it while you go about your different tasks that must be performed while standing. Gradually this position will become second nature, and you will assume and maintain it without effort.
When the body is in this position, the viscera are in their normal place. This aids the digestion materially and benefits indirectly the entire functional organism.
Persistent practice of the above will correct protruding abdomen and other defects due to faulty position and carriage of the body.
The following breathing exercises are intended especially to develop greater lung capacity and to assist in forming the habit of breathing properly at all times. The different movements should be repeated from three to six times, according to endurance and the amount of time at disposal.
(1) With hands at sides or on hips, inhale and exhale slowly and deeply, bringing the entire respiratory apparatus into active play.
(2) (To expand the chest and increase the air capacity of the lungs.)
Jerk the shoulder forward in several separate movements, inhaling deeper at each forward jerk. Exhale slowly, bringing the shoulders back to the original position.
Reverse the exercise, jerking the shoulders backward in similar manner while inhaling. Alternate the movements, forcing the shoulders first forward, then backward.
(3) Stand erect, arms at sides. Inhale, raising the arms forward and upward until the palms touch above the head, at the same time raising on the toes as high as possible. Exhale, lowering the toes, bringing the hands downward in a wide circle until the palms touch the thighs.
(4) Stand erect, hands on hips. Inhale slowly and deeply, raising the shoulders as high as possible, then, with a jerk, drop them as low as possible, letting the breath escape slowly.
(5) Stand erect, hands at shoulders. Inhale, raising elbows sideways; exhale, bringing elbows down so as to strike the sides vigorously.
(6) Inhale deeply, then exhale slowly, at the same time clapping the chest with the palms of the hands, covering the entire surface.
(These six exercises are essential and sufficient. The following four may be practiced by those who are able to perform them and who have time and inclination to do so.)
(7) Stand erect, hands at sides. Inhale slowly and deeply, at the same time bringing the hands, palms up, in front of the body to the height of the shoulders. Exhale, at the same time turning the palms downward and bringing the hands down in an outward circle.
(8) Stand erect, the right arm raised upward, the left crossed behind the back. Lean far back, then bend forward and touch the floor with the right hand, without bending the knees, as far in front of the body as possible. Raise the body to original posture, reverse position of arms, and repeat the exercise. Inhale while leaning backward and changing position of arms, exhale while bending forward.
(9) Position erect, feet well apart, both arms raised. Lean back, inhaling, then bend forward, exhaling, touching the floor with both hands between the legs as far back as possible.
(10) Horizontal position, supporting the body on palms and toes. Swing the right hand upward and backward, flinging the body to the left side, resting on the left hand and the left foot. Return to original position, repeat the exercise, flinging the body to the right side. Inhale while swinging backward, exhale while returning to position.
Diaphragmatic Breathing
The diaphragm is a large, flat muscle, resembling a saucer, which forms the division between the chest cavity and the abdominal cavity. By downward expansion it causes the lungs to expand likewise and to suck in the air. The pressure of air being greater on the outside of the body than within, it rushes in and fills the vacuum created by the descending diaphragm. As the diaphragm relaxes and becomes contracted to its original size and position, the air is expelled from the body.
(11) (To stimulate the action of the diaphragm)
Lie flat on floor or mattress, the head unsupported. Relax the muscles all over the body, then inhale deeply with the diaphragm only, raising the wall of the abdomen just below the ribs without elevating either the chest or the lower abdomen. Take about four seconds to inhale, then exhale in twice that length of time, contracting the abdomen below the ribs.
(12) (Internal massage)
Lie on your back on a bed or couch, knees raised. Relax thoroughly, exhale and hold the breath after exhalation. While doing so, push the abdomen out and draw it in as far as possible each way. Repeat these movements as long as you can hold the breath without straining, then breathe deeply and regularly for several minutes, then repeat the massage movements.
Next to deep breathing, I consider this practice of greater value than any other physical exercise. It imparts to the intestines an other abdominal organs a "washboard" motion which acts as a powerful stimulant to all the organs in the abdominal cavity. Internal massage is especially beneficial in chronic constipation. This exercise may be performed also while standing or walking. It should be practiced two or three times daily.
Breathing Exercises to Be Taken in Bed
(13) With hands at side, inhale slowly and deeply, as directed in Exercise Number (1), filling and emptying the lungs as much as possible, but without straining. Practice first lying on the back, then on each side.
(14) Using one-or two-pound dumbbells, position recumbent on back, arms extended sideways, dumbbells in hands. Raise the arms with elbows rigid, cross arms over the chest as far as possible, at the same time expelling the air from the lungs. Extend the arms to the sides, inhaling deeply and raising the chest.
(15) Lie flat on the back, arms at sides. Grasping the dumbbells, extend the arms backward over the head, inhaling. Leave them in this position for a few seconds, then raise them straight above the chest, and lower them slowly to the original position. Exhale during the second half of this exercise.
As a variation, cross the arms in front of the body instead of bringing to sides.
Rhythmical Breathing
It is a fact not generally known to us western people (our attention had to be called to it by the "Wise Men of the East"), that in normal, rhythmical breathing exhalation and inhalation take place through one nostril at a time: for about one hour through the right nostril and then for a like period through the left nostril.
The breath entering through the right nostril creates positive electro-magnetic currents, which pass down the right side of the spine, while the breath entering through the left nostril sends negative electro-magnetic currents down the left side of the spine. These currents are transmitted by way of the nerve centers or ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system, which is situated alongside the spinal column, to all parts of the body.
In the normal, rhythmical breath exhalation takes about twice the time of inhalation. For instance, if inhalation require four seconds, exhalation, including a slight natural pause before the new inhalation, requires eight seconds.
The balancing of the electro-magnetic energies in the system depends to a large extent upon this rhythmical breathing, hence the importance of deep, unobstructed, rhythmic exhalation and inhalation.
In order to establish the natural rhythm of the breath when it has been impaired through catarrhal affections, wrong habits of breathing, or other causes, the following exercise, practiced not less than three times a day (preferably in the morning upon arising, at noon, and at night), will prove very beneficial in promoting normal breathing and creating the right balance between the positive and the negative electro-magnetic energies in the organism.
The Alternate Breath
Exhale thoroughly, then close the right nostril and inhale through the left. After a slight pause change the position of the fingers and expel the breath slowly through the right nostril. Now inhale through the right nostril and, reversing the pressure upon the nostrils, exhale through the left.
Repeat this exercise from five to ten times, always allowing twice as much time for exhalation as for inhalation. That is, count three, or four, or six for inhalation and six, eight, or twelve, respectively, for exhalation, according to your lung capacity. Let your breaths be as deep and long as possible, but avoid all strain.
This exercise should always be performed before an open window or, better yet, in the open air, and the body should not be constricted and hampered by tight or heavy clothing.
Alternate breathing may be practiced standing, sitting, or in the recumbent position. The spine should at all times be held straight and free, so that the flow of the electro-magnetic currents be not obstructed. If taken at night before going to sleep, the effect of this exercise will be to induce calm, restful sleep.
While practicing the "alternate breath," fix your attention and concentrate your power of will upon what you axe trying to accomplish. As you inhale through the right nostril, will the magnetic currents to flow along the right side of the spine, and as you inhale through the left nostril, consciously direct the currents to the left side.
There is more virtue in this exercise than one would expect, considering its simplicity. It has been in practice among the Yogi of India since time immemorial.
The wise men of India knew that with the breath they absorbed not only the physical elements of the air, but life itself. They taught that this primary force of all forces, from which all energy is derived, ebbs and flows in rhythmical breath through the created universe. Every living thing is alive by virtue of and by partaking of this cosmic breath.
The more positive the demand, the greater the supply. Therefore, while breathing deeply and rhythmically in harmony with the universal breath, will to open yourself more fully to the inflow of the life force from the source of all life in the innermost parts of your being.
This intimate connection of the individual soul with the great reservoir of life must exist. Without it life would be an impossibility.
Warning
While the alternate breathing exercises are very valuable for overcoming obstructions in the air passages, for establishing the habit of rhythmic breathing and for refining and accelerating the vibratory activities on the physical and spiritual planes of being, they must be practiced with great caution. These, and other "Yogi" breathing exercises, are powerful means for developing abnormal psychical conditions. They are therefore especially dangerous to those who are already inclined to be physically and mentally negative and sensitive. Such persons must avoid all practices which tend to refine excessively the physical body and to develop prematurely and abnormally the sensory organs of the spiritual body. The most dangerous of these methods are long extended fasting, raw food diet, that, is, a diet consisting of fruits, nuts, oils and raw vegetables and excluding the dalry products, "Yogi" breathing, and "sitting in the silence." That is, sitting in darkness, in seclusion or in company with others, while keeping the mind in a passive, receptive condition for extraneous impressions. These practices tend to develop very dangerous phases of abnormal and subjective psychism, such as clairvoyance, clairaudience, mediumship and obsession.