Originally Published February 1st, 2014
I hardly ever get sick. I was reminded of this fact when, a few weeks ago, I got sick.
I woke up with a painful sore throat. Of course, I did some Pranic Healing–as much as I could with a one-and-a-half-year-old running around. It eased it quite a bit, but it lingered for a few days. When that went away, I had a cough for another 3-4 days. My husband did some healing on me at this point which helped a ton. Never are we more grateful for our good health than when we don’t have it!
The last time I got sick was once when I was pregnant about two years ago or so. Before that, I got sick after my trip to India (about 3 years prior). And it was at least two years before that since coming down with anything.
I say this not to brag but to share some of the things I do which may be contributing to my good fortune in this area—in the hopes that you may have success with them too!
Most people take it for granted that they’ll get a few colds each year along with maybe the flu, fever, cough, or something else. We rarely question this and accept it as part of life: “yeah, it’s going around. Everybody’s getting it.”. In my typical annoying way, I questioned it: Why do we have to get sick so many times a year??
It never made sense to me to take a bunch of over-the-counter medication to manage symptoms when the puzzle to solve, to me, was why I got sick in the first place and how I could prevent it. Most people accept they will get sick but only work on handling symptoms.
Yet getting sick, feeling miserable, and spending time and money on doctor’s visits and medicine is so much more difficult and painful than simply not getting sick in the first place. Now that I have a kid, it is truly mind-boggling to imagine having low energy, being run down, and even having a fever while trying to handle a toddler at the same time. I don’t know how people do it! It’s more important to me than ever to stay healthy and energized so I can get through my day.
Here is a list of what I see as the causes of our regular colds, coughs, and other bugs along with the regular practices and habits I implement year-round which may explain why I rarely get sick. Again, I don’t have all the answers, but all of these are great health tips in any case which will do wonders for your energy level, mood, and disease prevention. I hope you will try most or all of them!
1. Being Indoors
A few years ago, I wondered why we get sick more in the winter than summer. People seem to say it’s because it’s cold out. But if we are warm-blooded and our bodies stay around 98 degrees no matter the outside temperature, then why would it make a difference? Cold weather to us in Seattle is t-shirt weather to people from the Midwest or places where it snows. Cold and warm are relative terms anyway. Then one year my college roommate and best friend Laura and I were living together. Several times throughout the cold months she would open all the windows and door and put her coat on for a few hours in order to air out the house. I can’t say this thrilled me when it was 35 degrees out, but that was one of the first winters I didn’t get sick!
I came to the conclusion that, at least in part, the reason we get sick more in the colder months is that we are indoors with stale, un-circulating air. We get little to no fresh air. Naturally, this stale, indoor air helps breed more bacteria. Energetically, dirty energy stays put instead of getting removed through open windows. We are sitting in and breathing the same stale air and energy which is not health-promoting. I highly recommend airing out your house as often as you can stand it. On top of this, getting outdoors for at least 30 minutes (ideally 60) daily will give your body a dose of fresh air and prana.
Aside from this, when the weather is bad, the levels of solar prana and air prana drop. There is less readily available prana to absorb which, in most people, means a drop in their energy as well. This makes us more susceptible to illness. However, this is easily combated by exercise (which causes the body to expel dirty energy and suck in lots of fresh energy), and by meditation which powerfully energizes the whole body in a short span of time.
2. Pushing Ourselves Too Hard
I cannot tell you how many times a friend of mine has said over and over how tired, strained, stressed out, weary, and exhausted they were. “Miraculously,” they came down with something soon after. It was as predictable as could be. I hardly know anyone who sees themselves getting to the edge of what they can handle, whether it be work, stress, physical activity, or anything, and slows down to compensate and catch up. For some strange reason, we see signs that we are doing more than our bodies and minds and emotions can handle but just keep going. This is completely contradictory to common sense, is it not?
Well, I am one of these weird people who, when I see that I am doing more than I can handle, I slow down a little and take it easy. I either sleep more, treat myself to a massage, cancel a commitment (with proper notice), take a salt bath, or whatever it takes. Oftentimes, it’s one or two small things that let me catch up which is not big deal. It’s so much easier than going at break-neck speed only to crash, come down with a nasty cold, and have to check out for several days.
Also—haven’t you noticed that you predictably come down with something after a major stressful incident or stressful period of days or weeks? Maybe a big project at work, a relationship issue, or other situation finally takes its toll and you’re stuck in bed for days paying the price. Pay attention to how you are doing and feeling, to what is going on in your life, and adapt your schedule to stay healthy physically as well as emotionally and mentally.
3. Lack of Sleep
I don’t care how boring this one is–if you are like most people, you still need to hear it. I make sleep a priority and always have. It’s not because I’m lazy. Sleep is not a “guilty pleasure.” I am constantly amazed at the way people feel almost guilty for sleeping 8-9 hours which is literally necessary for health, while people don’t seem to feel guilty watching 15 hours of TV a week which isn’t health-promoting at all.
There have been so many times I have felt like I was coming down with something so went to bed extra early and slept in, and the feeling completely went away and I never got sick. Give your body a chance to catch up! I have heard what amounted to bragging contests about how little sleep people were getting. Ok, you get a pat on the back for working hard—great job. It still doesn’t need to come at the price of abusing the body in order to do it. And if you frequently get sick, your body could use some more TLC. Look at your schedule and your priorities. Most people waste significant amounts of time doing things that do not contribute to the well-being of their bodies, minds, or souls. I’m not saying you need to meditate and read spiritual books all day, but chances are, there are a few hours a week of non-essential or even unhealthy activities you could remove to allow you time to sleep more.
4. Little to No Exercise
This is definitely another reason we get sick more in the winter. We don’t exercise as much. I completely sympathize with not wanting to go out in the cold weather, especially when it’s raining. And the gym has never felt like a haven of health and relaxation for me either. Yet I do these things anyway. First off, there is nothing better for depression or “winter blues.” Second, if you aren’t getting your heart rate up, sweating, and also rapidly flushing our physical and energetic waste daily or almost daily, you are missing something vital to staying healthy. This is what exercise does. Plus a hundred other things I won’t take the time and space to list. Exercise has been shown to boost the immune system as well. Exercise is simply essential.
Here in the northwest, the weather is only nice 2-3 months a year. You can’t wait for summer to move your body. Find a way and place you can at least somewhat enjoy working out, and get it into your daily routine. You will notice you have MORE energy when you exercise regularly because it is so good for you. And you are less likely to get sick.
5. Unhealthy Diet
I don’t think I need to elaborate too much here. Haven’t you noticed that when you indulge in a bunch of unhealthy foods for a few days, you don’t feel great? And often, these are the times you just happen to come down with a cold, cough, or something worse. Don’t gravitate toward so many comfort foods in winter, as we are inclined to do. By this I mean lots of starches, grains, meat, alcohol, dessert, etc. These heavy foods are so much harder on your body in terms of digestion. They are also less nutritious than vegetables. So eat plenty of fresh vegetables (you know, those green things?) and lighter foods year round along with the above foods in moderation. When you feel like you may be coming down with something, adapt and eat more vegetables, drink more water, make sure not to over-eat (digestion takes a lot of energy), don’t drink alcohol, etc. These things are common sense—we just need to implement them!
Energetic Essentials:
Meditate
You’re going to hear me say this over and over. You can’t be in your best, peak state of health without meditation. If you aren’t meditating, you aren’t taking a break from life. Vacations are good, but 20 minutes a day of truly detaching and letting go is vital. When you do this, it has energetic healing effects on your body–which have physical healing effects on your body! Twin Hearts Meditation flushes out dirty, congested, blocked energy from your energy body, chakras, and channels. It then energizes your entire system. You feel lighter and have more energy afterward. It is so health-promoting, it’s difficult to list all the benefits, there are so many.
The mistake people make is to think that spirituality and meditation are “hobbies” or personal interests that certain people have. On the contrary–if you’re human, you are spiritual and need to implement regular spiritual practice into your life for your health and happiness—period. Go to www.pranichealing.com/meditation-twin-hearts for a free audio of this guided meditation.
Learn Pranic Healing
This has been a huge reason why I don’t get sick. If I feel something might be coming, I do Pranic Healing right away—the same day. Almost 100% of the time I do this, it works and I don’t get sick. Naturally, it’s harder to heal something once it has manifested physically and will likely take a couple of sessions. However, before it has manifested physically, when you’re just starting to feel run down or that bit of a headache or scratchy throat, 15-30 minutes of Pranic Healing is often enough to stop it from happening before it starts.
By the way, Basic Pranic Healing (Level I) is happening in Seattle March 1-2! Advanced Pranic Healing (Level II) is March 2-3. Click here for more info and to register.
There’s nothing too mind-blowing here. The biggest impediment to staying healthy, in my opinion, is just taking the time and diligence to do what we already know is right. We know when we need to take a break; we just have to do it. We know we need to exercise, eat healthy, and meditate. The hard part is following through.
The biggest step we can take in preventing small and large illnesses is to simply make our health a priority, and not give in to temptation when the mood strikes to be lazy and do something we know isn’t good for us.
Blessings of good health and happiness to all of you!
P.S.: What successful tips can you share about staying healthy and/or healing from small things like cold, cough, flu, etc? Tell us your experiences in the comments section below!
Body Spirit Health 