PAGE #1 Archives week 2

WEEK 2 Class Notes:

Eric to Marcie (Cure-All):

It has been my experience that there is a great danger in trying to make Macrobiotics a set of rigid rules, rather than guidelines.

No matter what the nutritional or exercise discipline, listening to the body in each moment, asking it, versus the intellect, just what it wants in any given moment, is vital. Mine will vary from day to day. Guidelines as to ingredients, combinations, the wisdom of realizing what is less polluting, and this requires less cleansing, volume of hydration, necessity relative to the amount of activity, climate, season, etc. are valuable. Yet one day my body may ask for predominantly vegetables, gomasio, and a touch of umi paste, another it may ask for part of a cup of short grain brown rice, and yet another it ( not my intellect ) may want to eat mostly fruit. That seems to happen once every 2 to 4 weeks for me. Once in every 18-20 days it asks for some kind of small amount of protein - perhaps half a cup of fish. Some days I need a nap, others not, and I've found that can correlate to what I've eaten, and how my body reacts to it.

Why certain foods are recommended, and how they work in the body has helped me to ground macrobiotic philosophical structure. Understanding an imbalance in the body and what it needs - a stressed liver, as an example. Toxemia and blood cleansing. Noting that many of the foods are blood cleansers - burddock (tekka) scallions and onions, for instance - can help to guide what balance of foods within Macrobiotics to eat that will aid the healing of a given physical imbalance.

I've found over the years that each person's body chemestry will be different in each moment of the 24 hour day. Listening to its needs, learning the language it speaks, and gently applying it with patience and love has served myself and other well. Applying rules related to volume, timing, etc. rather than listening to the body's needs can cost the baseline of health over a relatively long period of time, for a rule, though applicable as a general guidline, cannot give the body what it needs in any given moment, and it is the moments, one at time, that build the health of the future.

What are your feelings about this, Roy?

Roy Responds to Eric:

Our bodies always know what is needed but sometimes brain does not know. A good clue for the brain can be determined by what the eye sees growing in the native environment. Everything is changing and body is constantly making adjustments. I agree it is important to be flexible but also find it necessary to adhere to yin/yang guidelines in the selection and preparation of foods. No need to be so exacting. Depending on our past dietary habits and present condition we may all need to have a little
"window" for personal need, which may, in reality, have nothing to do with how mainstream macros play the game.

Whether we eat macro or not body will still find a way to make balance, if not, then death will come.

Eric to Roy:

I wholly concur. What I didn't make clear is that
the choices should remain within a given set of
parameters, I.E. Certified Organic and Demeter
foods, if not grown that way by the individual,
and the basic macrobiotic guidelines. Following
the yin/yang principals via the intellect can
kick the body out of balance in any given moment,
where asking it what it wants within the spectrum
of healthy choices macrobiotics offers allows it
to communicate the need to fulfill its dietary
requirements in any given moment. This assumes
the practitioner knows what keeping a stable
blood sugar is, and how the body works if it
drops below that level. I.E. cravings for sweets
means first and foremost to ask if my blood sugar
is low and the body is asking for the quickest
fuel to burn so it can regain its short term
biochemical balance. The best response in this
situation is not a simple sugar. A salad works
fine. While it takes a bit longer to get into the
blood stream than a simple sugar, the long term
biochemical/energy needs of the body are far
better off than having the spike of a yin food
like a piece of fruit that will burn off in 45
minutes to an hour, requiring the same cycle
again. Vegetables won't create that boom and bust
circle in the blood sugar. This is a good example
of what I mean about learning the language of the
body, so we can give it what it needs. The
craving for a " yin " food actually translates
for a request for high quality, long term fuel,
not the simple sugar most people would reach for,
whether within the dietary constraints of
macrobiotics, or a simple sugar like tubinado,
cane, or honey.

That's also a good example of what I meant when I
mentioned the difference between responding via
the intellect, and listening to the body and
responding to its needs. I apologise for not
having made clear that I meant the response to
be within the parameters of healthy choices.

Does this make sense relative to your background?
 

Roy to Eric: Its good that we only have to deal with a couple of meals daily! Anymore than that and we'd go nuts and have no lives other than food food food. I think even if the plant product comes from your environment you don't need to worry too much, because the plant has already learned the art of adaptation and is balanced with the environment. So, like you said, a little salad, or fruit, or whatever is in season that will smooth your ruffled feathers would be fine. Not need to slice on the diagonal, steam sautee with a more yang or yin factor, etc.

This is obssession/compulsion, not macrobiotics. Fear is ruling their lives, not freedom. To be like nature we must act like nature, that is to be flexible, giving, no blame, moderation, yin/yang. This make true happiness.

Good post Eric...

In peace, Roy

Stephanie to Roy:

What do you mean 2 meals???

<<Its good that we only have to deal with a couple of meals daily! Anymore than that and we'd go nuts and have no lives other than food food food. >>

That's just how I began to feel when I started back sliding. As well as when I tried to get serious again about macro. Stephanie

Roy to Stephanie:

I mean two main meals consisting of at least one serving of hot, whole grains and 1 of veggies (cooked according to season dictates) and sometimes side dish of beans and seaweed. This of course changes with seasonal availability.

I don't really consider “break-fast” a meal, which I usually take after chores and exercise to make a sweat in the am. This is usually a small “snack” like cup of miso with left over grain that I cook with extra water to make a congee. Then I go to work and come back for a good hot lunch at around 1 PM. The next meal will then be the ‘family meal” at 7 pm. Most people eat too much and do not work hard. This makes excess.

We need only to replace what we put out. If daily work load is heacy in the physical department then you should eat more. If work load is light you eat less. Simple, really?

In peace, Roy

Stephanie Responds:

 
That's just how I began to feel when I started back sliding. As well as when I tried to get serious again about macro. Stephanie

Jenn Replies:

Some people need more......It all varies person to person. I like whats been said so far.....

Bill Responds:

I regard one's present condition as including constitution and karma.
Looking at each of these things separately is important for
understanding, self reflection and making the appropriate changes, as
are yin/yang, location, seasonal transformations (cycle, co-cycle), and
daily transformations.

Bill

Roy to All:  Anyway let us continue with the class to get back on schedule:

from Fu Xi I Ching by Roy Collins (1993)

“Second Phase Macrobiotic”  Nice picture, huh?  We can say the Fu Xi is the founder of the Old Text school of Macrobiotic Philosophy as he uses yin/yang in the physical way.

I will explain:

As I stated early, Fu Xi is a member of the Yangshao tribe which lies on the extreme North-eastern limits of the ancient Silk Route – away from the main influence of the other well known civilizations, in the mountains of Gansu province just south of Mongolia.  A very interesting location because there is trade with people from the eastern steppes as well as Egypt, Greece, Indus Valley etc.  Unlike these other advanced cultures

the Yangshao are living quite simply and comfortably, cooking in ovens, eating millet, domestic and wild vegetables and a good amount of fish (legend tells us that Fu Xi brought fishing with nets to China).

The Yangshao are  a very peaceful people and follow egalitarian social system.  This means there is no discrimination and everyone has equal input into whatever is required. 

The rule is a matriarchy (women rule over men) and they are the teachers of the children.

Everything is going quite well until Fu Xi shows up with a good idea.  He applies egalitarian thinking to a scientific system of divination that uses yin/yang idea to make it work.

The earliest reference of Fu Xi comes from Confucius’ writings:

“In ancient times Master Fu Xi ruled over all.  He raised his head and  observed the heavens, he lowered his head and observed the earth, observed the natural patterning of birds and animals, compared them to the disposition of the Earth.  At close range he gained insight in fro his own body, at a distance he gained insight from natural objects.  Then from these he originated the eight graphs.  With them he could from the spiritual make accurate evaluations of virtue, and he could catergorize the tendencies in all matter.”

Sounds like George Ohsawa, no?

Do you see yin/yang thinking here without the use of the term yin/yang?

Sure you do.  Fu Xi looks up to the sky (yin) and then down at the earth (yang solid).

He then uses three broken lines to reprsent yin (sky) and three solid lines to represent yang (earth).  Between the two sets of line symbols an imaginary line can be drawn to form the vertical “ridgepole”  Ridgepole is the central beam of a wood house, one side is in the light and the other in the shade.

Of course there are other indications of yin/yang going on in Confucius’ statement.  What are they?????

In peace, Roy