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Can the peace train help fight inflammation?

May 30, 2017 By wisegorilla Leave a Comment

Can being on the peace train aid in the fight against inflammation?

Last week my wife mssg’d me with this article from Uplift – Control Inflamation. Which was a cover story from another article on how to hack inflammation by hacking the nervous system

The articles talk about the power of the Vagus Nerve, what it is, and how we can activiate it for self-healing through what is known as ‘controlling the vagal tones’ of the body. This is especially important to those struggling with inflammation issues and other chronic issues, such as heart disease – Which I work on managing both on a day-to-day basis. Both articles are great and I highly urge you read them as rebalancing activities such as this becoming more and more mainstream as a means to aid in the fight against rising health concerns.

So what is the vagus nerve?

Per Dr. Shawna Daru, ND (Author of the Uplift Article) – “The vagus nerve is the longest nerve in the body which originates in the brain as cranial nerve ten, travels down from the neck and then passes around the digestive system, liver, spleen, pancreas, heart and lungs. This nerve is a major player in the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the ‘rest and digest’ part (opposite to the sympathetic nervous system which is ‘fight or flight’).” – How to Control Inflammation

Per Gia Vince (Author of the article “Hacking the nervous system” ) Dr. Kevin Tracey “A neurosurgeon based in New York” and dubbed “The Nerve Hunter” discovered the power of the vagus nerve and its potential applications through an experiment in the late 1990’s. What he discovered was this…

“Operating far below the level of our conscious minds, the vagus nerve is vital for keeping our bodies healthy. It is an essential part of the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for calming organs after the stressed ‘fight-or-flight’ adrenaline response to danger. Not all vagus nerves are the same, however: some people have stronger vagus activity, which means their bodies can relax faster after a stress.” (Hacking the Nervous System)

So why would this be important or even matter?

(I so want to say – studies show right now… But I will refrain ) This is something I picked up along the way in my studies. We are not aware of our subconscious. Though it is what operates a majority of our day. When we sleep and wake up it is the subconscious that is in complete control of our body’s. The conscious communicates to our subconscious and our subconscious communicates to our conscious awareness of everything it picked up throughout the day – this what we all know as (drum roll please) – dreams.

Dreams are not only good for picking up what you were not aware of during your waking moments but it is the time to reset your brain, and your heart. If we are so stressed that we cannot reset the buildup blocks our ability to move forward – in essence we are wearing ourselves down and keeping ourselves from growing. No rest and restoration will cause your body to shut down on itself.

When you are constantly in a state of stress things become inflamed – add foods that trigger inflammation, don’t get a good night’s sleep, don’t restore, and you will have a buildup of pain – Emotionally, physically, and yes… even spiritually.

So how do we combat this besides just eating/drinking higher spectrum foods, exercise/activity, connections with others, and rest? Deep controlled breathing and/or meditation.
Shortly after my heart attack my doctor taught me something that has become a part of my everyday routine. Not just any breathing either – diaphragm breathing. I really didn’t think too much of it at first – until I started jalking (Jogging + Walking) and helping with our local youth football program. Want to beat a side stitch – learn to breathe from your diaphragm. Want to learn how to get a kid to calm down in the middle of a heated football or calm down from a nasty hit that scared them out of their shoes so they can get back in the game so they can think and respond… get them to do diaphragm breathing.

How is that possible or rather how does that work?

“The strength of your vagus response is known as your vagal tone and it can be determined by using an electrocardiogram to measure heart rate. Every time you breathe in, your heart beats faster in order to speed the flow of oxygenated blood around your body. Breathe out and your heart rate slows. This variability is one of many things regulated by the vagus nerve, which is active when you breathe out but suppressed when you breathe in, so the bigger your difference in heart rate when breathing in and out, the higher your vagal tone” – Gaia Vince

I have sense started incorporating this breathing technique in my meditation sessions (which are not as often as I would like) and OMG… talk about total chill.

Well… Why would this benefit anyone?

“Research shows that a high vagal tone makes your body better at regulating blood glucose levels, reducing the likelihood of diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular disease. Low vagal tone, however, has been associated with chronic inflammation. As part of the immune system, inflammation has a useful role helping the body to heal after an injury, for example, but it can damage organs and blood vessels if it persists when it is not needed. One of the vagus nerve’s jobs is to reset the immune system and switch off production of proteins that fuel inflammation. Low vagal tone means this regulation is less effective and inflammation can become excessive…” (- Gaia Vince / Hacking the nervous system)

One of the main components, aside from foods that trigger inflamation, is our stress response (aka fight or flight response). If we are in a constant state of stress or feel that we are in a constant state of survival without rest and restoration – our bodies functions become dis-ordered (aka dis-eased).

Why is this so important? (At least to me)

Additional studies and implication have been discovered that there are ways to improve our vagal tones. Those that practice meditation, are active, and eat higher spectrum foods not only have higher vagal tones, but “they’re also socially and psychologically stronger – better able to concentrate and remember things, happier and less likely to be depressed, more empathetic and more likely to have close friendships.” Says doctor Kok (Rasing your vagal tone “Hacking The Nervous System”)

In the article Dr. Kok also goes on to say “Those who meditated showed a significant rise in vagal tone, which was associated with reported increases in positive emotions. “That was the first experimental evidence that if you increased positive emotions and that led to increased social closeness, then vagal tone changed…”

So… when you are really frantic, or your heart rate is elevated – Try some deep breathing. So besides, creating positive connections with others, eating/drinking higher spectrum fuels.
So yes… there are ways to fight inflammation naturally – Our bodies our designed to do miraculous things. And even with all the advancements in technology and in medicine we are just scratching the surface of what we are capable of.

Be mindful – this is not saying this is a cure all. Please… If your doctor is telling you that you should probably take some medicines take them. Understand those meds are not a cure either. It is to aide you in your fight with what you are dealing with. It takes work to turn the boat in a different direction. Sometimes those changes come too late… does not mean that you can’t make those changes. Just remember… it takes work. Its a daily practice, discipline and commitment to choose higher spectrum foods and drinks, activities that are of greater benefit, deeper connections with others… But it is absolutely worth it.

the greatest implication I found from the articles –

In the article hacking the nervous system the Gaia Vince quotes on of the doctors “… Our understanding of how the body manages disease has changed forever”. Though I love that more and more doctors are saying this. I think a more appropriate thought Is – which excites me more than anything else – is that there is a paradigm shift occurring where we are letting go of some old concepts and thoughts and rediscovering what the ancients have always tried to teach us.

To quote Doctor Paul-Peter Tak from ‘Hacking the nervous system’ – “… it’s very clear that the human is one entity: mind and body are one. It sounds logical but it’s not how we looked at it before. We didn’t have the science to agree with what may seem intuitive. Now we have new data and new insights.”

And I am thankful for it to.

Please read the articles and share with others, it is my hope that they bring to you as much insight and hope as they have me.

Enjoy LIFE

I can never truly close a post without asking from you – What are your thoughts?

What is the first step in living the life you desire?

May 23, 2017 By wisegorilla Leave a Comment

Be an expressive extension of who you are at your core

What is the first step in living the life you desire?

One of the biggest struggles I have had is finally coming out and saying that I don’t believe as I once believed, or rather what I have been taught to believe. When I say struggle I really mean, fear. The type of fear that keeps you living two lives… the life you dream about and never really think you can have and the life you actually have that everyone sees.

To be truthful what keeps is from living the life we desire is a matter of choice. Either we choose to live the life we desire or we choose to live the life we desire the least in an effort to avoid being shamed from being who we are at our core. And that is a life I had live for way too long. So I choose to live the life that is an expression of who I am at my core.
What keeps us from living the life we desire? Often it is the thought of what our social circle may think – after all rejection is one of the links in the great chain of conformity and compliance.

I have an affinity towards spirituality, knowledge, and wisdom. I love to learn about crystals, essential oils, meditation, out of body experiences, chakra’s, eating higher spectrum foods, various religions and spiritual practices. However, expressing your love for these things can place a negative label on you in certain Christian circles. So for many years I have kept my studies and my love for these things to myself.

Before the heart attack I lived a life that was similar to this where I was completely and utterly miserable – living the life I “should” live rather than living a life I truly desired to live. I realized that I was doing the same thing by not coming out and being absolutely true to who I am and the things I love. Now my wife and my mom knew about my studies, as I shared a lot of my findings and insights with them. And they would often urge me to share what I had learned along the way.

However, there was something that just kept me from sharing this with the world. Besides the crippling fear of being called a warlock, a shaman, a new ager, and all other sorts of negatively charged labels in Christian circles, I didn’t want my children to suffer the wrath of being made fun of or rejected by their friends because their parents would paint me, and/or even my wife, as being something evil with the intent of stealing their soul and teaching their children dark magic or what not – which is the furthest thing from the truth.

But at the same time as a parent I need to practice what I preach to my children. Which is often a message of follow your heart. Be an expressive extension of who you are at your core and what you love. Anything shy of that will cause pain, misery, and a great deal of suffering. Create an environment with your friends and those you love were they can be who they are, as they are, because there is not enough of that going around. Always take action from a place of love.

So yeah… I love wisdom – ancient wisdom, eastern wisdom, new age wisdom. I love learning about crystals, and meditation, and essential oils, higher spectrum foods, out of body experiences, astral projection, dream interpretation, neuroscience, psychology, sociology, yoga, falun dafa, ti chi, along a myriad of different things that help an individual bring peace and balance into their life. All for one purpose and one purpose alone – learning to live in the essence of who we are at our core. So we can be an expressive extension of who we are, have been, and will always be.

I write this fully understanding that there will be those that read this and will completely miss the message. I can only say this… what you look for in life you will find. That is the way the mind works. If you are looking for evidence that there is evil in this life and that you should show how much better you are than someone else because your way of believing is better than someone else. You will find it. To the same degree… if you are looking for peace and balance in your life and how to be an expressive extension of who you are. You will find it as well.
Regardless of who reads this and what their intent is in this life I can only say this. This physical life is too short to not live in the raw power of who we are. It is too short to not live an expressive extension of who we are and what brings joy and happiness to our lives. It is too short to not give our children an example of following your heart and chasing after your dreams. It is too short to live in the fear of what may or may not occur.

Why is living our lives as an expressive extension of who we are at our core so important?

At the end of this physical life, when we start the next leg of our journey, the only thing that will remain is the energy that we have expressed during this lifetime and that is what we will recognize and be recognized by. That is what we will gravitate to and also attract. So… knowing what I know about what happens after this physical life is over I can no longer live this physical life in a way where I am not expressing who I am and what I love at my core 100% of the time.

I choose to be, to do, and to have that which is an expressive extension of who I am at my core and to live a life I desire.

Seeing the magic in life

January 26, 2017 By wisegorilla Leave a Comment

Magic

It is often the pull of choosing one side or the other that we fail to see the magic that is before us.

The day I died was nowhere near as bad as the days in recovery and even those days paled in comparison to the days, weeks, months and even year of follow-ups. It wasn’t the doctor’s visit or all the changes that I made to my diet and lifestyle that was so bad. What was bad was the head stuff, the stuff that went on in between the ears.

I would share what happened with friends and they would tell me that I was in purgatory, or at the gates of hell, and that I needed to get my soul right because if I didn’t I was going to go to hell. What they did not know they were telling me, in their innocence, was that I was a bad person, that I was looking at a punishment of torment and damnation. Which only does one thing in the human spirit… activate fear.

Other friends would say, “you see… I told you, there is no God. All of this religious stuff is an elaborate hoax pulled over the minds of people”. Which hearing this does only one thing… activate fear.

Then I had Dr’s and articles say that my near death experience “Was just something I made up in my head.” Which does only one thing to the human spirit… it activates fear.

It does not matter what anyone has to say… Fear is NOT False Evidence Appearing Real. Fear is the loss of vision of love and growth. For the human body, spirit, mind, and cells only operate in two modes: Defense and Growth and they never operate at the same time.

The moment fear (our defense programming) is activated in our minds our vision is narrowed. For we must protect that which we love at all cost – flight or fight. Fear is a normal human response… to focus on escape so we may find that which causes growth (Love). Fear is meant to be there, part of us… so we may have a chance to grow, to expereince love. We are meant to see love, know love, experience love. And love is a magical thing.

However, we live in a constant state of fear. So much that we don’t see the magic when it presented. We choose to believe one way or the other because choosing one way or the other keeps us safe with a group of others that believe exactly the same way that we do… and that is safe… and where there is safety there is love. And we will defend that which we know to be love at all cost. Even if it means excluding others that may take us away from that which we have gained so much love throughout our lives.

Yes, my near death experience was not about a walk in paradise… it was an abyss void of any signs of life, at least life as we know it. My near death experience did not foster any hope… if you choose to see as such. I did not come back with this polly-anna fantastical story of hope.
But if you stay in fear you miss the magic of what happened…

We have two sides to choose from (at least that is what we are taught)… Those that will use my experience to further their claim for hell and torment and those that will further their claims to the absence of a divine consciousness. If you choose to see the experience through those views you choose to view it from a place of fear…. Your vision is narrowed and you are only seeking escape and you will miss the magic.

We choose one side or the other and we fail to see that there is a constant message from all of those that have a near death experience. We continue after this life…
I could not see anyone, hear anyone, feel anyone… but I was still there. I was still present. I existed… My consciousness, my spirit, the essence of who I was and everything I desired remained.

I could not use any of my senses to move about… The only thing that I could do is express my deepest desire… know my truth! It was in that expression and knowing that I was able to have movement. I had to give voice to what I wanted more than anything else and have that desire be what propelled me.

The instant that I desired to be with my family was the very instance that I had sight… a small little light, somewhere far away. The more I expressed my heart the closer I got to that light source and the brighter and more intense and more radiant it became.

Spirit gives life to matter. However it takes the interaction between the spirit and physical for animation to take place. It was not only my desire to be here that brought me back, but the paddles from the Doctors that were attending to me that brought me back. Their desire to bring me back that opened the door for my entrance.

If we live our lives from a place of fear… excluding others, telling them they are wrong, that they are bad, that they don’t belong, that they are crazy, we will always fail to see growth, love, joy, kindness, and yes… even the magic of being human.

Recognize the fear for what it is… the inability to see the magic that surrounds us all.
Choose to see that magic in everything and choose to see the infinite possibilities… of being

The way home is known

January 24, 2017 By wisegorilla Leave a Comment

You have driven this way a thousand times, but tonight there is no moon to guide your path. A fog had rolled in so dense that you can barely see the guardrails alongside the highway. Your headlights are engulfed in the haze that obscures your way. The way home is known… yet you feel lost and disoriented and the few minutes that you have spent in this fog seems to have been an eternity.

You could have traveled the same stretch of road home every night for 10 years and all it takes is one night in a dense fog so thick that you cannot see but ten feet in front of you to have a sense of total misdirection – like you are trying to get somewhere but unable to get there.
That is life. We know what we really want – love, connection, significance, value, contribution, congruency. But we also need challenges. Well, at least the ones that we know we can overcome. The ones that we don’t know how to overcome become problems. And that in it of itself is a problem. We don’t want problems that we can’t solve. We want problems we want know how to solve or think we can solve.

The problem is that you already know the road home. But you are focusing on the fog instead of the road. Which becomes an even greater problem. Your pulse quickens, your eyesight narrows, your breath becomes shallow, your hearing is sharpened – that is why you lowered the radio, slowed down, and tighten your grip. Yes… pay attention. But see the fog for what it is… a gift. The fog is the gift that reminds you of who you are, what you are made of, and that you will obtain at the end of the fog. What you obtain is more precious than any tangible thing. The gift of a new capacity, a new discovery of who you are and what you are capable of.

We so often get so caught up with the fog that we forget that we already know the way home. That we are amazing beings capable of a great and many things and that if we trusted ourselves we would know not to panic because we are good drivers, that pay attention to the road. So yes, lower the radio, and slow down a bit. But don’t pay attention to the fog. Pay attention to the road.

For many of us… we have been too caught up with the fog. We have payed attention to the words of others for what we need to be, what to do, how to speak, how to believe, who to love. We have done this for so long that we have forgotten who we are… we are love, we are excitement, we are truthful, we are compassion , we are connection, we are value itself, we contribute without the need for reward – we are selfless.

The Fog – society, culture, environment, the list is truly endless – is there to remind us of who we are and that we already know the way home. And Home is where the heart is. And we can express it, share it, and open it to others, and not be changed but be amplified by those that choose to see our lights that we leave on so others can find their way through the fog.

J.A. Figueroa (a.k.a The Wise Gorilla)

The one thing that guides us all – Love and all things pleasing.

January 20, 2017 By wisegorilla Leave a Comment

Love and Connection

I have no eyes but I can see, I have no ears but I can hear, I have no hands but I can feel, I have no tongue yet I can communicate, what am I? Your brain.

Yes, the brain… It has no ears, it has no eyes, it has no hands, nor a tongue, yet it knows how to use every single aspect of our bodies to know its surroundings . It is a response and reaction mechanism of the human body that given a certain stimulus it will respond one way. Given another stimulus it will respond another way. But what is it responding to?

Many scientists; neurologist, psychologist, philosophers, biologist, anthropologist, sociologists, have given their say on what it can and cannot do. We know that we are capable of so much more… yet it escapes us all to think that the brain, though vital for our existence, is nothing more than a response and reaction mechanism. One that constantly scanning its environment for two things. Any and all things pleasing, and anything that would keep it from any and all things pleasing.

That which would cause pleasure we gravitate to. That which would prevent us from anything pleasing we would immediately and instantly guard against – we will fight or we will take flight. It’s as simple as offense and defense. Offense is to move towards the achievement and attainment of all things pleasing. Defense is to guard against any and all things that would keep us from all things pleasing. and of all the things that we can experience in our life… Love is the single greatest and most powerfully pleasing element of all.

The brain has no real understanding of what love is because love is a mixture of multiple intoxicating neurochemicals – testosterone, estrogen, dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and vasopressin. However, it does react to the chemicals that are being produced and it wants more of it and is always looking for ways to create it. And of these neurochemicals the one that is the most addictive is Oxytocin, which the heart produces in higher quantities then that of the brain (This is a highly contested thought in the scientific community – Even though the first fully functional organ in most, if not all, living creatures is the… heart)

Of all our emotions of all our drives – Love, the desire and need to connect with another human being, is the one thing that the brain is always scanning for; How to achieve more of it, how to protect it, how to experience it more and more. For Love is the most pleasing of all.
Knowing the connection between the heart and the brain. The heart is fully formed and functional first. The brain gets a charge and it knows that it is alive. Is it so hard to believe that love is what makes us feel alive? Is it so hard to believe that Love is what gives us energy and purpose? Love is what excites us and motivates us? Why is it so hard to let love be our guide and our reason for being and expression?

What prevents us from experiencing life to the max is not fear itself… rather it is a fear that we will not experience love, that we cannot see how love would be in the experienced keeps us from experiencing all that there is to experience. For the thought, the idea, the potential for the absence of love is displeasing. And that which is displeasing we will fight against or avoid at all cost. So… Love and all things pleasing is the one thing that guides us all.

The Magic of You

January 19, 2017 By wisegorilla Leave a Comment

Stars

The Magic of You

One of the hardest things for anyone to accept is how truly amazing they are. I mean, like, if we could really see ourselves through the eyes of someone that truly thought the world of us we would undoubtable be embarrassed and we would most definitely ask – what in the world!… why? I’m really am not that great!

The truth is… we are a light into someone’s darkness. We brighten their day. We make them smile. We make them laugh… we even bring them a sense of calm to their crazy life, even though we think our life is not that great and our life is even crazier than theirs.

Why is it so hard to believe? I mean we all have that one person, or animal, or thing that does exactly the same thing for us. Just seeing them, hearing their voice, thinking of them does the same for us and after all… life is a reflection of lights reflecting on itself. Hence the term life imitates itself. Not only does it imitate itself, it also leaves clues…

Look up in the night skies and you will see the twinkling of stars. We will notice the moon. We notice the bright and the shiny. We notice light reflecting in our eyes from millions of years away, piercing through the vast emptiness of space. The clearer the night the more stars we see, the more brilliant the stars become. And we can do is stand there in complete awe of their brilliance.

So yes, it is possible, for us to be that star piercing through the night skies to bring joy into the heart of another human being and the clearer the vision from the receiver the clearer we become.

Sometimes we have a hard time seeing those stars in the night skies or even being a star ourselves, the noise from the hustle and bustle of a busy life, focusing on making things happen, can cloud the skies and we can forget that the stars are there. But the stars shine regardless of the clouds, regardless noise, regardless of anything this world can throw at it… stars shine.

All we ever need to to do is take a step back, and get to a place of peace and quiet, away from the hustle and bustle and look up into the night skies and see… that through the darkness there will always be a light that shines. And all we have to do is choose to see that which is in us. Because that light will be there waiting for us to shine back.

That is the magic of you!