Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Western Medicine, Water, and Hope!

It's been two months since I arrived in the USA from India. Most of my time has been in the suburbs of Wilmington, Delaware. It's funny I was realizing the other day how "normal" it seems to me here now. How I've adapted.

I watched the movie Kundun last night which is one of the best movies I've ever seen. It depicts the Dalai Lama's early years and flight from Tibet during the Chinese Invasion. It makes me sad to realize the USA's lip service to world democracy when they obviously use such terms to support their own agenda's such as oil, while ignoring such violations of humanity as those in Tibet.

The movie brought back images of what it is like to travel in the "third" world where most people have little clutter in their lives. Few cars. Few belongings. Sparse, small houses and abodes. The material wealth and waste we have in the US is amazing. Astonishing. Wonderful. Grotesque. It's interesting how little relationship there is between happiness and material things. I've seen what we would consider impoverished little kids gleefully playing with a used plastic bottle as a soccer balls in the streets of Gangtok.

I no longer think twice before hopping in the car, and driving in that isolated box down the road. I easily spend $15-20 here in a moment. I could live up to 4 days on that in India. I watched Ben Cohen's explanation of the Federal Budget last night. It struck me how easy it would be to feed the world. A family in India could live on $1000/year. I've been making smoothies in a blender. This morning I wondered how far the resources I use for my morning juice would go in the third world?

Meanwhile I've seen more of the inside of the American Medical system than ever before. Insurance. Specialists. Run arounds. I tried insurance once and found it a waste of time. I was in the middle of dental work with a root canal or two halfway done, when my employer signed me up for dental insurance. I went to the new dentist covered by my insurance. They insisted on a consultation and told me that I needed to have a crown put on my tooth that was prepared for a crown... and that it needed to be done soon! Then offered me an appointment three weeks later. I quit the insurance and went back to paying my own way at my previous dentist. In San Francisco, the handful of times I thought I needed western medicine, I was able to go to sliding scale clinics. Over the years, I've learned quite a bit about healing from other sources like Reiki and shamanism. I've learned that healing happens when we set the intention to heal. Then we find a ritual to help with that intention. The ritual could be western medicine or Reiki or anything that promotes our belief/intention and health. I've learned that it is important to find resources that support and help you in your goal. It's important to be proactive in your healthcare. If you have a condition that one modality cannot heal, go to another that has solutions. Find someone who has healed from the condition you have. Find out what they did.

If people put as much intention into their health and healing as they do in manifesting cars and homes and material bric brac, they would be very healthy indeed! Yet, for some reason we tend to want to skimp on our health. We look for cheap doctors and cheap food! Rather than nurturing doctors and food!

I'm aghast at the proliferation of drug advertisements. There was one on the trailer at the movie theater the other day! Strange in a society that is in the midst of anti-drug wars for recreational drugs. Strange people don't see the connection between use of medical drugs and recreational drugs. The same quick fix mentality. And funny how some drugs like caffeine, alcohol, sugar, salt, and cigarettes are arbitrarily accepted as OK. Drugs are big business. Drug salesman bombard physicians daily with new products.

It's no wonder that when one of my dear friends was nauseous, already on 10 medications, that her doctor prescribed another drug. No examination. No weight measure. No diet questions. No interest in exploring the possibility that her side effects were caused by one of her other medications. The new drug would destroy the stomach's ability to produce digestive acid. No doubt in another few months, some sort of artificial stomach acid would be prescribed! Meanwhile, one specialist sends her to another. The greater tragedy I see is that the doctors don't really focus on increasing the health of the body. I read about herbs that actually help the body improve itself. Micro nutrients that help build tissue. I experience ancient sciences of yoga and acupuncture that focus on improving the body. Western medicine is largely a system of patches upon patches. Don't get me wrong, Western science has some excellent procedures for radical emergencies. But overall it's focus seems invasive and focused on lifelong dependency.

Some friends of mine offer workshops on eye health and vision. When eyeglasses were first developed, they were used as temporary measures. The doctor would work at reducing the strength of the correction with an eye for strengthening and improving the eye. Now we take eye glasses as permanent fixtures in our life... no thought of actually trying to improve eyesight. And medications are no better.

The good news is there is a growing movement of alternative choices. Integrative Medicine Programs are becoming common. The combine the best of Western Medicine for acute cases with the best of other modalities for degenerative conditions that western medicine doesn't have answers for. The good news is that more and more people are starting to take charge of their own bodies and care. A growing organic and supplement market is showing that people are looking into less invasive ways and lifestyle changes to actually improve their health and vitality.

In Gary Null's Ultimate Anti Aging Program, I read about a 90 year old man who is a marathon runner! When he was 80, he was arthritic, had a precancerous condition in his bowels, asthma, and chronic sinusitis! Simple lifestyle and diet changes turned his life around! And in Null's study of 256 people with a program for anti aging, those types of results were common! Someplace else I read (not sure whether it was in one of Andrew Weil's books, or Lemole's Healing Diet), that high cholesterol foods affect your arteries for 6-8 hours after eating them. If, for instance, you eat a bag of potato chips three times a day, your body is constantly compromised. So the good news, is if you simply cut out all the crap food, your body will naturally heal! Alot easier than getting some drug for the rest of your life!

And so I'm optimistic for myself and others. Long ago I set my intention to live a healthy active life until my 90s, and then to die quickly, easily, and peacefully. It makes me happy and confident when I read about and see other people finding ways to do such things. I wish more people would put such focus and intention into their own health, well being, and death. Your every thought and action is a prayer and ritual for creating your life!

In the last few weeks I've been researching water a bit. Long ago I started actually following the common advice of drinking a minimum of 8-10 glasses of water per day... something like 2-3 quarts/liters for a minimum. And more with exercise, sickness, and/or drying conditions. I have found myself in remarkable health compared to many of my peers. I have found that water revives me when I am tired. The common water recommendation seems to be based on how much water the body looses through fluids and evaporation. There are a few studies and many personal accounts that show that increased water intake heals or reduces such conditions as cancer. Strokes apparently tend to happen when blood is thick and less hydrated. There is the caveat that it is possible to over hydrate by drinking too much water with too few salts very quickly. I think that would be very hard to do... I mean I've often drank 1 liter at a time with no problem and occasionally close to 2 liters. In my travels I'm amazed at people I meet with dark stinky pee. I figure if I can get my pee close to clear during the day, I'm well hydrated. I'm amazed how much this water this can take with relative inactivity in a dry heated house. Water lubricates the body. That's very important for exercise! I think lots of people shrug off exercise with old age, when they really just need to eat and drink water. Hulda Crooks, a woman who started backpacking up mountains as a senior citizen discovered that on her first hike. She grew tired and weary and was thinking perhaps she was too old. She stopped and ate and drank, and found her energy renewed! How many countless others give up and give in to stories of old age. I've met people younger than me who already have chosen such dis-empowered realities. I've wondered at times why we seem to need so much water. I read of Aborigines walking around the desert and I doubt they drink that much. I think perhaps our needs are because we have more toxins to flush out of our body, and perhaps our mineral intake is lacking with all the synthetic salts and foods. Celtic sea salt for instance has nearly the same mineral content as blood. Processed salt is sodium chloride. I look at the studies. Most of all I look at my own experience. When I drink 3-6 liters/quarts per day, I feel good. When I don't I feel worse, I get more aches and pains. I find that when I exercise the affects of water show up very quickly. When I am hiking and take a rest every hour or two to snack and drink water, I can go on and on. When I don't, I get crabby, tired, and develop aches/pains/injuries. Water is such a simple and cheap thing to try, I am surprised more people don't try it!

Monday, January 21, 2008

Travel Tips: Web Resources

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Monday, January 07, 2008

Travel Tips: Computers, PDAs, USB Traveldrives and Productivity

Keeping organized and "in touch" with your work, friends, and family while on the road can take on many forms. There is the old school method of pen and paper. I've carried a journal and small address book with me around the world. Internet cafes are pretty common wherever I have been: Nepal, India, Thailand, and Laos... beyond the USA. The prices of internet cafes seem to drop. If you are in a city big enough to get away from tourists, you can find internet cafes for locals at $0.50 USD or less. More remote touristy areas like the Everest Base Camp trek, or Ton Sai in Thailand will have some internet for a price! Ton Sai's internet was around $3/hour, which relatively is cheap unless your are on a $5-10/day budget. In Namche Bazaar enroute to Everest, the price was around $1-2USD/minute. Usually printing, scanning, and CD burning are available, though often at tourist prices. The internet cafes are generally Window's based. My last 8 month jaunt to S.E.Asia, I carried a small 1 G USB travel drive. I didn't use it much. My email and blog are web based. I mainly used it when I wanted to work on Reiki Manuals, or if I were checking my online bank accounts, I used the browser on the USB for extra security.

If you only need to check email, there is no reason to bring anything with you. But if you have other work to do, such as writing, or office work, then you might want to consider some other options, such as portable flash drives, PDAs, or a laptop.

Another method is to use web-based services for your addresses, calendar, or simply to store information. For instance I usually save important numbers such as passport, visa, credit card, traveler's cheques in a draft email to myself on a web based email account. I've also emailed myself copies of Reiki manuals and certificates so I can download them and print them as needed if I teach on the road.

The next cheapest and lightest option is a USB travel drive. You can find 2 Gig models for well under $50 USD. If you have a camera, you might just get extra memory cards and a USB card reader. The USB drive will allow you to carry your data with you. I've used "U3" drives which come with proprietary software on them. U3 is a common platform for certain software applications that can travel on your travel drive. Another platform is PortableApps (http://portableapps.com) with a range of free open source software. The advantage of this is that you can have your photo editor, website builder, spreadsheet, wordprocessor, etc. software with you! You can also carry a web browser with all your favorites loaded. You can't always count on the internet cafes to have MS Word, or Adobe Photoshop, or.... whatever software you use. Carrying your own software on your USB drive will ensure you can open your documents when you need to. You can also get programs that store your important travel information in secure electronic form. By the way, security programs are also available to provide protection against viruses and spyware. Internet cafes can be havens for viruses and trojans, etc.

The amazing thing I have just discovered is the availability of good, free software. PortableApps.com is amazing! Mozilla Firefox internet browser's are available, along with Thunderbird email manager. PortableApps.com has a openoffice.org suite that parallels Microsoft Office with spreadsheet, database, word processor, graphic editor, etc. And these programs can read Microsoft's versions of your documents! There is even a free chat interface called Pidgin that can work with your AIM and Yahoo Messenger accounts. If you are concerned about covering your data trail, there are programs designed to leave no trace of your doings on the host computer. Check out Democrakey. You can also carry your own photo editor and uploader for managing your digital photos. Ifranview is a decent batch photo processor for resizing photos.

The U3 platform has quite a few free listings, but also many programs that you can buy. I've read mixed reviews about the U3 platform. So far I've enjoyed it and found it works OK.

Right now I have a Sandisk Micro 4G U3 travel drive, and I plan to get a cheap Kingston Traveler 4G for $25! It's likely not the fastest drive, but I can back up my other drive with it. I'm really excited that I can carry all my writings, addresses, and important documents with my favorite software on a thing smaller than my thumb! I'll put the two drives in an old pill bottle for protection. And will email documents to myself for backup.

If you can't bare the idea of going to an internet cafe whenever you need to write or do computer work, then you might consider a PDA or a laptop. You can find an old Palm 125 that works off of AA batteries and has an SD card slot for less than $75 USD. You could use a "smart phone", though if you want to use the phone without paying outlandish roaming charges, you need one with a replaceable SIM card. That and a portable keyboard could be a good way of writing on the road. You could save the documents on the SD card and use an USB card reader to get the documents onto the computer. If you save them in RTF format, then you could read them with most any program on the computer. That would save carrying synchronization software with you and having to download that onto the computer.

If you really want to, you can also carry a laptop. People do it. Some swear by it... saying they can edit their photos, listen to music, write, edit videos... all in the comfort of their own room! It depends how much you want to work on it and how much you are willing to carry. Also, it depends how heavy your laptop is. So far, I haven't felt the need.

If you want a cheap small laptop, check out the Asus Eee PC. At $400 UDS and the size of a paperback, it seems like a great option. It's between PDA and a PC in functionality.

Resources:

Asus Eeee PC http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24

PortableApps: http://PortableApps.com

U3: http://U3.com

Democrakey: http://sourceforge.net/projects/democrakey/

Free Portable Software: http://portablefreeware.com

Traveling with a Palm: http://www.moxon.net/travel_tips/travelling_with_a_palmtop.html

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Travel Tips: You are Packing for India?

A couple months ago, a friend asked me for gift suggestions for a friend of his that was going to India for three months.... this is what I wrote...

First let me say that the best recommendation I have ever read (yet never followed) is to bring a tiny student size backpack... because virtually everything you could need you can get in S.E. Asia. Unless you are trekking or mountaineering, there's not much need to bring things. It is so nice to travel with nothing! You can purchase clothing and most everything from yoga mats to shampoo cheaply once you are there.

The only real exception is high quality technical stuff for outdoor sports or electronic equipment. Such things may be cheaper if made locally or more expensive in S.E. Asia if imported and often of questionable quality. In India for example, there a locally made electronic goods that *might* work; they might not for long! If you want a proper Canon camera or Sony mp3 player, it will likely cost more than in the USA. Bangkok might have some good deals on the other hand.

As far as sports gear, in the cheap range, what you will mainly find is knockoffs of somewhat questionable quality. The knockoffs may be perfectly serviceable for limited use. They will likely be heavier. You sometime find legitimate name brand gear at prices similar to the USA.

The length and nature of your trip will impact what you want to take. If you are heading to India for a month only for the purpose of high altitude trekking in Ladakh, then you may want to take all your technical camping gear from home because high tech, lightweight, quality gear is hard to find there. Though you might be hiring ponies and guides and able to rent serviceable gear. On the other hand, if you are going to Nepal for a month of trekking on a route where teahouses abound, you might just take your sleeping bag, if that, and warm clothes. If you are heading off to India, Laos, and Thailand for 6 months to visit beaches and sight see and maybe going to the mountains, then you might take little beyond the clothes on your back and your camera or sketchbook. On such a trip, you could easily purchase or rent gear for a short trek if you wanted to sojourn in the mountains.


That being said, here are some ideas to consider (many of these I have listed in the "My Favorites" Amazon.com sidebar on this webpage):

Books: Lonely Planet Guidebook for the appropriate sections of India, Lonely Planet's Hindi Phrasebook (assuming you are visiting a Hindi area... it's the national language, but most regions have their own language as well... so if you were just going to the mountains, Nepali or Ladakhi might be more appropriate... I have heard that in the south, they resent speaking Hindi), William Suttcliffe's Are You Experienced is hilarious, and a book called Holy Cow is pretty good too. I have heard good things about Shantaram as well. Jeremy Seabrook's Love in a Different Climate is a good read about men's sexuality here.

Medicine/toiletries: most everything is available in India. Pharmacies usually don't require a prescription and would have all the basic needs. I find psyllium and charcoal tablets helpful for regulating traveler's diarrhea Psyllium is called Isabgol in India; charcoal can be harder to find. Some people like grapefruit seed extract (that is not available in India). I like EmergenC vitamin sachets and they would be one thing I would consider bringing with me.

There is a local brand in India called Himalaya products that has herbal medicines that are quite good... even a herbal hand sanitizer. A small first aid kit like available in REI with bandaids/iodine/antiseptic wipes might be useful. Travel packs of baby wipes might be useful... though doing your business like the locals (sans toilet paper) is usually very clean.

Good sandals like Teva's are the most useful footwear I have found. Unless I am high up in the mountains, that is all I wear. There are cheap local knockoff's available in India which I am liking better than Teva's now that I have found them... but Teva's would still be a good thing.

I find it useful to have a decent padlock... I like a simple Master's combination lock like we used in high school gym. That way I don't have to worry about carrying keys, and the asian padlocks supplied by the guesthouse don't seem so secure.

A sleep sack like you get for hostels... or a big comfy one for camping, but avoid the mummy bag liner cause it would be constricting ... could be nice so you don't have to rely on guest house linens.

A funny thing I would love to remember to bring for Varanasi is a gag/joke hand buzzer. The massage guys on the ghats come up and "shake" your hand and start massaging it trying to get you to pay them for a hand massage.

A water filter or purification tablets. The first time I came I brought a water bottle with built in filter. It was nice not to have to buy bottled water all the time. I got one this time, but it puts iodine in the water all the time and tastes crappy so I don't use it. There is an electric purifier called SteriPen available at REI that I think would be really good. This trip I have been drinking local water with no problem... but many traveler's wouldn't be that brave. Another idea would be just to have some water purification tablets for emergency use. Most tourist areas have bottled water (that may or may not be safe) available. That's what most tourists drink.

A money belt is highly recommended for your valuables. And to keep a spare stash of emergency cash someplace else than the moneybelt along with list of traveler's check no's, credit card no.s, etc. Some peeps like to have a zippered/lockable backpack as well.

That's all I can think of.