The quality of rest you need should allow the parasympathetic nervous system,
to predominate over the sympathetic nervous system. This means that rather than being stimulated by outside things, your attention
is directed inwards to the processes of your own being and body.
It is when the parasympathetic nervous system predominates that healing
and repair of tissues and functions takes place, and this itself depends upon efficient cleaning of waste materials from cell
tissue.
This special quality of rest is intimately related to a capacity to 'listen
to the body', so you become conscious of what it needs to serve you best.
It is a vital aspect of a developing awareness of how your body, emotions,
mind, and (ideally) your 'higher self' or Soul, connect and work together.
The practice of Yoga and Meditation are
both means to develop this alive relationship between the aspects of your being.
There are many forms of Yoga and meditation, and each
person needs to experiment with forms they are attracted to until they find a form, and a teacher, they feel completely comfortable
with.
Yoga is often seen here in the West as a means to cultivate a lean, keen
body, which indeed it is. It can also teach us how to unwind, relax, and get closer to a state of rest wherein true renewal
can take place at an ever deeper level.
Tai Chi and Chi Gung are also ways of
learning this.
If you are really ill, you may not have the initial energy to embark on
any of the above. You may feel that you have to 'rest' all the time, yet never truly feel rested.
If this is you, your liver, spleen and kidneys may be quite depleted, (often
the case in chronic ill health) and putting the food suggestions on this site into practise should help.
You can also use the Heal by Breath exercise, ideally for at least 15 minutes once or twice a day. Regular
use of this exercise will rapidly help you to develop a closer awareness of what is taking place in specific areas
of your body, and how best to help those areas at any time. Reading the exercise aloud onto tape which you can play back while
you are lying down will make it easier to learn.
Please also remember that if you live in a city, your whole being is deprived,
most of the time, of the pranic, or magnetic, energy normally supplied by nature : naturally
flowing, clean water, leaves breathing out nourishing gases, rich amounts of negative ions, produced by seawater ebbing and
flowing on clean beaches, fresh water cascading in waterfalls, the air in mountains and forests.
Our bodies are electrical and magnetic organisms, as well as biochemical
and structural ones. For healthy functioning of all our tissues, and perhaps in particular our nervous system, we need plentiful
amounts of magnetic energy as produced in nature. If we do not get this, our vitality will be reduced, and we will be more
susceptible to illness.
Try to build into your weekly schedule some time to be out of doors, amongst
trees and flowers, and near water courses. Walk if you can. If not, lie on a blanket with your back against a tree
trunk, allowing the sound of the air moving its leaves to caress your brain.
If you are lucky enough to live in a country area, and to have a garden,
no matter how small, try to spend some time each day working in the garden.
Both the following sites offer clear descriptions of the 'Progressive
Muscle Relaxation' exercise, which is well worth learning, as it will form a sound basis for any other work you do on
quality of rest.
Rest and Mercury Poisoning
Mercury has a special affinity for nerve tissue. It is attracted to the brain, and nerve cells
and fibres throughout the body. Nerve fibres are insulated against the electrical signals continuously transmitted through
them by a fatty substance called myelin. The 'myelin sheath' surrounds much of the fibres of the nervous system.
Mercury in the nerve tissue interferes with the proper regeneration of the myelin sheath.
What this means in practice is that the insulation protecting the nerve fibre from burn-out is eroded away; signals transmitted
through the fibres rapidly wear away the fibre itself, and may jump fibres, causing confusion in perception to the person.
Two needs are essential to help anyone who is experiencing this :
1) A good supply of high quality, absorbable essential fatty acid, for renewal of the myelin
sheath; and
2)Adequate rest where the person's nervous system is not being stimulated by anything at all
- TV, radio, conversation, etc.
Virgin, organic Coconut Oil may be a prime source of absorbable essential fatty acid, and
deep relaxation provides the stillness in which the fibres can repair themselves.
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