I have begun this year pronouncing it as the year of acceptance of your cure. This includes not only accepting your cure, but also, accepting everything that is happening between now and when you are cured as necessary for your cure. Today, I am going to revisit the concept of “cleaning the pool” to help you understand why you may feel worse while you are getting better. Knowledge, understanding, and faith will help you defeat fear.
In the past, I have written about how cleansing Parkinson’s toxins from the body is like scraping algae from the walls of a swimming pool — a lot of toxic material is floating around and making you feel poorly prior to it being flushed from the body. This process can deplete the body’s energy, leading to fatigue. This is an important point to understand in order to fight the fatigue and fight the fear that you are getting worse…you may be feeling a little worse, but you are getting better.
I firmly believe that Parkinson’s pollutes the body and that is why the physical part of the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery® has a large focus on the liver…getting the toxins cleaned out. It is a double edged sword — first you have to break up the toxins, which causes them to release into your system, and then you flush them out, primarily with respiration, perspiration and urine, not primarily from bowels, so make certain you are drinking enough water.
Quite frankly, this is one of the hardest parts of the recovery because when you are succeeding in breaking down the toxins, you feel the worst of it as a result of how much toxicity is floating around in your system. This is where some people want to quit because they feel so poorly. This is where you have to be strong and have faith that what you are doing is correct.
I know, this is contrary to everything you have learned in life. With the Recipe and this recovery, the better you are doing at breaking up toxins, the worse you will feel for a while, but then you get better. It is peaks and valleys throughout the recovery. It is why I did not feel too much better for nearly the entire time I had Parkinson’s, and then when I started feeling much better, two weeks later, I was better.
It may be hard to believe that the better you are doing the worse you will feel for a while, but think about this: suppose a swimming pool looks like it is filled with sparkling water, but the walls are completely covered in algae. If you scrape every wall from top to bottom, what will the sparkling water look like? Completely polluted, right? But aren’t you making progress in cleaning the pool? Don’t you need to get all the algae off of the walls to clean the pool?
This is a very important point. If somebody saw the pool and did not notice the algae covering the walls, they would think it was a perfectly clean, sparkling-water pool. After you scrape the algae and before it is flushed out, the same person would look at the pool and wonder how it suddenly became so polluted. And such is the case with you. You have worked hard and were starting to feel a little better. However, this hard work released many toxins into your body, and this will make you feel “worse” or “more polluted” until you can release the toxins from your body.
And then, you need to look at what this does to your energy. Going back to the pool, when the water looks clear and the algae is stuck to the walls of the pool, how hard are the pool pump and pool filter working? Hardly at all — there is nothing toxic or polluted in the water, so they are on low and using very little energy. Once you scrape every wall in the pool and the water is completely cloudy with toxins and pollutants, how hard are the pool pump and pool filter working? Very hard, and overtime! They are turned up to their maximum power and do not relax until the pool is clear again.
Let’s apply this to your Parkinson’s body. When you first start doing the physical part of the Recipe, particularly Medical Qigong for Liver, initially many people report an energy boost, bowel function improvement, and return of sense of smell. This is because you are cleaning toxins already floating around in your body, so you get an initial positive impact.
However, as you work harder at the physical part of the Recipe, you start to get into the deeper parts of the toxicity in your body (like scraping the algae off of the walls in the pool), and you put a load of new toxins into the mainstream of your body. Much like the pool pump and pool filter, your body then must devote a large amount of energy to getting the toxins cleansed from your body.
Since your Parkinson’s brain already is low on energy, and since you have been so successful in pulling these toxins out into the mainstream of your body, you suffer slower movement and sometimes fatigue, and the physical part of the Recipe becomes a bit harder to do — your body is prioritizing the use of its energy, and priority number one is not your tremors or rigidity or slowness…priority number one is eliminating the toxins from your body. This results in your symptoms appearing worse. However, you are not getting worse. It is just a shifting of energy to a higher priority. There is nothing to be afraid of. You are getting better, and continuing the physical part of the Recipe assists your body in cleansing the toxins more effectively.
As all of you know, when you fight Parkinson’s, it fights you back. When you are diligent with the Recipe and you have been feeling like you are making progress, it can be a blow to your faith to suddenly feel like you are physically going backwards. Parkinson’s tests your faith. Parkinson’s tests your resolve. Parkinson’s tests you to the core of your being.
And what do you do? You fight back! You start at the core of your being and chip away at Parkinson’s day after day after day until you are cured. You have to be strong and you need to maintain your faith in yourself to see it through to your cure.
“I have the power to heal myself.” And I did.
“You have the power to heal yourself.” Marie did. Pratima did. Betty did. Helen did. And you are.
“Together we have the power to heal the world.” Yes we do. And we are.
Focus on what you are doing in the moment with the Recipe, and have faith in yourself and your recovery.
You are worth it!!!
All my best,
Howard
GOING TO CLEAN THE POOL RIGHT NOW!!
I love this analogy of the swimming pool. It’s such a positive visualization. We’re not getting worse when our energy is low. Our body is doing some house cleaning. It’s time to help your body heal and take a nap! I had a bad fall the week before Christmas and have barely been able to move. It’s been enforced rest and healing. I’m much better now and my faith in the body’s ability to heal is greatly increased!
Love and blessings. Never give up!!!
Hi Howard, great post especially for the new warriors who are just starting out with the recipe. I’m delighted that I’m able to now do the recipe again ,although I had to start the meds to do so. I feel I have a good chance of recovery now as I am less depressed and overwhelmed, so have a better chance of feeling joyous to release dopamine. I had to get as low as I did to consider meds but I truly could not cope or manage on my own anymore and family had supported as much as they could. It was the right decision for me . I was always upset when I read of one of the warriors starting meds and I used to think ” that will never be me” How wrong I was. It truly is a nightmare at times when you live alone. So many of you are so blessed by your partners unconditional love and support. I still believe in my recovery, just take a little longer. 🙂
Big Love to all.
Karen xx
Dear Karen,
I was in exactly the same position as you, including feeling like I’d failed by taking meds! It wins me time, and the strength to fight the PD head on. I’m so grateful to you for recording all you were going through, it doesn’t feel such a lonely battle. My motto is never, ever give up!
Love
Helen C.
Thanks Helen,glad my whinging helped 🙂 xx I love your motto. Big love my friend, we WILL get there.xx
Thank you!
Thank you Howard for the great analogy. It is great Karen that you are back on course and for listening to your body rather then listening to others. We don’t need to compete with anyone and sometimes we need a little help. What we need is often very close and that need is often to follow what we believe to be right for us. Take your time and remember the “tortoise” that Howard suggests we be. I keep reminding myself several times a day about that. Nelson Mandela said “things seem impossible until we do them.” Much love and thoughts to you.
Veronica🌱💕
Thank you Veronica for your loving message to me. Bless you. 🙂
Big Love to you my friend. xx
Hi Howard, many thanks for this topic since it is 2017 it is about to start a clean slate
and also to persevere in working to defeat this illness.
Thank you again, Howard. And thanks to all who post replies, comments and news of their progress and experience. Today’s post by Howard reminds me of my having read another.
The other day, after reading one of Howard’s very inspiring posts, I found myself adding to Howard’s line, “I HAVE THE POWER TO HEAL MYSELF,” and chanting it seems to have improved my outlook, attitude, and my will to try just a little bit harder. It’s: “I have the power to heal myself, and I AM getting better!!!!!” As I chanted it to myself, I chanted each time with more and more intention, and…I felt progressively better. Then later I found myself chanting it as I walked at work, while driving, and while doing the Recipe. For me I feel it’s chanting with INTENTION that, in turn, encourages more action and recognition of progress added to the faith.
Well said Cap, I agree with you positive affirmations chanted throughout the day are powerful. Long may you stay positive friend.xx
Thank you so much Karen. And may you be blessed to achieve all you envision and more! And as you mentioned above, you are so right that I for one am blessed to have my loving wife help me with my PD. Stay strong, fight back, never give up, never give in and play to win! xxx
This concept of cleaning the pool is really wonderful. It explains very well what happens when toxins are eliminated from our bodies. It corresponds fully to my situation over the last four months or so. My symptoms have been very difficult, but at the same time I know that my health inside is constantly improving. I know this because all the signs are very good: white of the eyes, growth of the fingernails, urination, bowel function, feeling of physical purity. But there are other evidences that I am very glad about and that I want to report here.
In September I made a new blood test to see whether I missed something that could explain my aggravating symptoms after more than one year of doing the Recipe. The test included dark field microscopy and a biometric measurement of the stresses of the body (values in the range 1 to 99). The stress values were the following:
heavy metals in the brain (walls of the pool): 90 (high stress)
liver (somewhere between the walls of the pool and the pool filter): 80 (high stress)
bowel, kidneys (pool filter, that is exit of the pool): 6, 26 (low stress)
In terms of the concept of cleaning the pool this meant: algae not yet completely scraped off of the walls, water very polluted, pollutants in the water not yet about to leave the pool.
The high stress of the heavy metals in the brain did not mean that I had more heavy metals in the brain than in previous blood tests, but rather that my body and the inner organs, after 15 months of doing the Recipe, had got healthy and strong enough to be able to put this difficult issue on the agenda.
The therapist suggested to take wild garlic and coriander to support the removal of the heavy metals from the brain.
Three months later, in December, I sent the therapist a new blood sample. This time she found the following stress values:
heavy metals in the brain (walls of the pool): 51 (moderate stress)
liver (somewhere between the walls of the pool and the pool filter): 40 (low stress)
bowel, kidneys (pool filter, that is exit of the pool): 84, 92 (high stress)
In terms of the concept of cleaning the pool these findings meant: algae now scraped off of the walls, water much cleaner, pollutants in the water about to leave the pool.
The stress of heavy metals in the brain had decreased from 90 to 51! And the stress of the liver had decreased from 80 to 40! And bowel and kidneys were working full power to make all the toxins (amongst them the heavy metals) leave the body. This is strong evidence of a cleaner body and of a stronger and healthier liver. This also explains the difficult symptoms, for instance the fatigue. But what an improvement of my health beyond that false evidence of the symptoms!
There is another evidence of a healthier liver that coincides with the December blood test: Over the last 10 years, at least, I had a callus in the left big toe I couldn’t explain. It was painful and had to be removed every month by the podologist, but it always returned. When I began to do the Recipe and learned the trajectory of the liver meridian, I saw that the callus was exactly in the place of point one of the liver meridian, and I began to expect that the callus should disappear when the liver meridian and the liver got healthier. So when I saw the podologist in December, she was surprised and said that there was no callus to remove, and I realised that for a couple of weeks, at least since beginning December, I had not felt any pain in the left big toe. By now, neither the callus nor the pain have returned. – I am very happy about this little detail, not because I have no more pain in the left big toe, but because it is another proof of that the liver has got strong and healthy.
Are such improvements in the inner health worth some extra symptoms? They are! I accept the extra symptoms with full joy, because I know they mean I’m getting better.
Thank you, Howard, for this great post and for sharing the concept of cleaning the pool with us. To all my fellow travellers I wish a strong faith that beyond the symptoms they may suffer there is the reality of increasing inner health.
Love and blessings to all.
Rainer
congratulations, Rainer
Sounds really positive Rainer, well done you.xx
Wonderful pep talk. Happy recovery year to all of us!
Don
Appropriately said Howard. Am also experiencing bad symptoms i.e increased tremors inspite of doing the recipe. You always keep us motivated and gives us the insight to keep going till we achieve. Hurray Howard!
Great post Howard X