ETJ Blog

Yes, I’ve certainly been talking about health, food and nutrition a lot lately. This AdventurePod is part 2 (part 1 is on English Teacher John Show No. 37) of my self-recordings during our week-long learning process. You can download it from our podcast page.

Here are the links to the books and experts that I mention in the shows related to cleansing fasts, nutrition and the Koh Samui ‘Spa Samui’ experience:

Book: Cleanse & Purify Thyself by Richard Anderson, ND, NMD | website

Book: The Tao of Health, Sex & Longevity: A Modern Practical Guide to the Ancient Way by Richard Reid | website

Alternative Nutrition/Health Expert: Dr. Bernard Jensen (deceased) | website
Book: Dr. Jensen’s Guide to Diet and Detoxification: Healthy Secrets from Around the World by Dr. Bernard Jensen
Book: Dr. Jensen’s Guide to Better Bowel Care: A Complete Program for Tissue Cleansing Through Bowel Management by Dr. Bernard Jensen

I also talk about food and nutrition on our ‘What’s Up? Podcast‘ number 5. Enjoy and learn!

Wanna hear it? [download | link to rss feed | expression list | all ]
Duration: 8:52

Hey … WHAT’S UP??? Processed foods are making us sick, that’s what’s up!!

Welcome to episode number 5 of English Teacher John’s ‘What’s Up? Podcast.’ You guessed it, this is John speaking and I am refreshed, alive and well and sending digital bits and bytes to you from our small home here in Matsumoto, Japan.

Okay, maybe you’re a little tired of hearing about my recent fasting experience at the health spa in Koh Samui, Thailand. I wrote about it on my blog, I talked about it in Podcast number 37 and yes, you’re probably going to hear the second part of the recorded audio very soon on AdventurePod English No. 2. Well, let me open up the discussion a little here.

What the heck are we eating? Is all of that food in the supermarket good for our bodies? Is ANY of it good for us?? If not, WHY WHY WHY are all of the food companies selling us food that’s not very healthy?? Is it just business as usual or is there some rationale to it?? Please help me to understand it because I just don’t get it.

Yeah okay, I was just in a place that was founded on alternative principles of health, healing and nutrition. So, I may be a little tainted right now but I think there are some really good things to ponder here.

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, it’s a little difficult to change from a vacation mindset to a working mindset but … let’s go!! I’m ready!

It was a great trip and now it’s back to teaching and creating some new podcasts. I just produced and uploaded Podcast Audio Lesson 38. There’s a language segment and there’s also an interview with a wonderful family. I hope you find it interesting and useful. Enjoy!

Tomoko and I are now in Bangkok and getting ready to wrap up our vacation. It has really been a great month!

After the 7-day fast Koh Samui, we took a boat to the nearby island of Koh Tao. This is a famous scuba diving island with a lot of good coral for both snorkeling and diving. About five years ago, Tomoko and I stayed on Koh Tao for about three weeks. Back then we spent our entire time on at ‘Tanote Bay.’ It’s really a quiet little place but the snorkeling there is really good. We routinely see interesting and colorful fish while snorkeling: titan triggerfish, angelfish, butterflyfish, rabbitfish, rays, wrasses, needlefish and … we also run into sharks too. The small (1 – 1.5m) blacktip sharks are pretty shy and very interesting to watch. It’s really great to wake up early, grab the mask, snorkel and fins, hop in the water and swim through the interesting tropical aquarium.

During our time there before, I also did a lot of diving, and managed to get my PADI Advanced Open Water diver certification. Unfortunately, this time we only stayed there for two nights and so I wasn’t able to do any scuba diving.

However, we had a couple of relaxing days there, with plenty of snorkeling (I saw four sharks!!), reading, and hammock-swinging. I picked up a copy of Wilbur Smith’s wonderful novel ‘The Blue Horizon’ and had a good time getting into that story.

Yesterday, we awoke early at Tanote Bay, took a pickup truck-taxi into the pier town, stepped onto the big catamaran around 10am, onto a bus around 1:30pm, and cruised into Thailand’s capital city around 9:30pm last night.

Our new awareness of food and nutrition is at the forefront of our thoughts these days, but we knew we had to go to our favorite ‘Sarah Restaurant’ (Khao San Road area) for some great Israeli-Middle Eastern food. Sarah did not disappoint, as we loaded up on the (mostly healthy) dishes of: tahini, hummus, pita bread, falafel, finely-cut salad and hassamin (eggplant). Boy that was tasty!

Today is Friday, the last day of March 2006 and we’re finishing up some shopping and odds and ends and then we’ll settle in for a big Thai dinner before heading to the airport for our midnight flight tonight. It’s hard to belive it but we’ll be back in Tokyo around 8am Saturday and probably in Matsumoto sometime in the afternoon.

I think the memories of our McLeod Ganj (Dharamsala) friendships, Reiki, and projects, Rishikesh, fasting on Koh Samui, coral and fish in Koh Tao and final wrap-up in Bangkok … all these images and moments will stay with us and we cherish them. And I hope that we’ve learned a few things that we will find useful, and that we can share with others in a positive way.

A great March 2006, a great trip.

Well, we’ve come a long way since our first day of the fast. We didn’t really know much about fasting and the fasting system before starting, but in the last few days we have really LEARNED A LOT!

It’s interesting how energy levels go up and down during the fast. Most days we had energy for short periods of the day, but mostly we felt a little weak and lazy. For me, sometimes I felt hungry but not always. The important thing for me was to do some activities during the day. In the mornings, I usually went for a swim in the sea. It was really good to start the day with some exercise. Tomoko went to the meditation circle a couple of mornings on the beach and I know she liked that. We also did morning yoga and occasionally afternoon yoga. With experience, the twice-a-day coffee-vinegar colemas (also called colonics or enemas) have definitely gotten easier and that’s been a great thing

How about Day 5?? We were both REALLY WEAK on the fifth day and I think the only thing that kept us moving was our friend Kyle who visited for a couple of days. With limited strength and feeling very lethargic, we still managed to go into town and walk around a little. I didn’t know what was going to happen for the remaining days when I felt so weak on day five! On this day, for the first time, I had some liquids other than our ‘detox drink’ or water. I had one ‘liver flush drink’ which is a wonderful (and strange!) combination of olive oil, cayenne pepper, garlic, orange juice and lemon. I also had a small bowl of vegetable broth (liquid only, no solids). Sitting down to eat the veg broth feels like sitting down for a meal, so it kind of helps mentally.

Well, I woke up on Day 6 and felt wonderful — high energy, ready to go — so I went for a good swim. I grabbed my snorkel and mask and swam out a few hundred meters and found some areas of coral. It was great to observe the tropical fish. Tomoko and I have done a lot of snorkeling (and I’m a scuba diver) so we are able to identify many of the fish that we see. The reef here is mostly dead but luckily there are a few live spots with some interesting fish around. It really felt great to have energy and be active in the morning! With Kyle, we attended a ‘tea circle’ which was a really nice social event. Near sunset time, I had my first experience with the breathing, energy exercise called Qi Gong. Tomoko joined me for that and we both really liked it. It seems to be a great combination of breathing exercises and flowing movements.

Today is DAY 7 and we both feel pretty good. We did ‘yoga in the jungle’ this morning and that definitely tired us out. The rest of the day we’ve been mostly relaxing. In the middle of the afternoon we sat at a beachside table and had ‘lunch’ — Tomoko had veg broth soup and I bellied up with a liver flush drink .. an excellent meal! We also had some nice conversation with a new Canadian friend who’s a fellow faster. He was just full of information about juicing and natural foods.

Now that it’s DAY 7, it’s time for Tomoko and I to LOOK AT THE MENU … and get ready for a meal tomorrow … yes! It’s important to ease out of the fast, so it’ll just be raw foods for us for a couple of days — fresh fruit and raw salad. But … pizza’s just around the corner (just kidding!)

I’ll mention one good book that I’ve borrowed from the library here. It’s a great reference for all of the healthy things we’ve been learning here. It’s called ‘The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity’ by Daniel Reid. There’s so much good (and non-mainstream) information in there that you can just about open it to any page and you’ll find something captivating. I’m starting to learn about food combining which seems to be so important to good digestion (don’t eat proteins together with carbohydrates … no steak and potatoes, no fish and chips!)

That’s about it for today. Now I’m off to do some cleansing, and then to ‘dinner’ for some vegetable broth.

More to come about health and nutrition, stay tuned …

 

Tomoko and I are now on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand. We are at a small health spa and have just begun a new experience for us: it’s called a ‘cleansing fast’ and it lasts for seven days. I have to be honest here … it was all TOMOKO’s IDEA!!

What is a CLEANSING FAST? A fast is a period of time where a person doesn’t eat any solid food; cleansing means the purpose is to clean the body.

Well, the first day is finished and it went well. Actually, the day before the fast officially started (we call it ‘Day 0’) we didn’t eat any solid food, just drinking water and some juice during the day.

Prior to doing the fast, there is a lot of information to read and also there is a ‘pre-cleansing’ process. During ‘pre-cleansing’ you really should’t eat any processed foods (almost everything in the supermarket is processed!), just RAW foods like fruits and vegetables. The ‘pre-cleanse’ ensures that your body is ready for the fast.

I really didn’t know what to expect with this fast, but I liked the idea of it for two reasons: it’s a challenge to go without food for seven days, and it’s really a healthy thing to do.

So, after watching some videos and listening to the orientation talks, it was time to start. The daily routine begins at 7am with a ‘detox drink’ (‘detox’ is short for detoxification) at the ‘detox counter.’ This drink is a bit thick and slushy but it’s not too bad. At the 7am drink time, we also receive a packet of 31 capsules. The capsules are both supplements to provide some necessary nutrition during the fast, and also there are ‘cleansers.’ These capsules help to move the toxins out of the body.

So, it’s the drinks five times a day and the pills five times a day (6 pills each time), and what else? Well, let’s talk about one of the most important parts of the fast; it’s called a ‘colon cleansing’ and the brand name they use here is ‘colema.’ In everyday English we would call it an ENEMA. We do the colema twice a day, in the morning and late afternoon. It involves inserting a tube into yourself (at the anus) and waiting while a liquid flows into you and then flushes out the colon. Okay, here’s the surprising thing about it … the colema is filled with COFFEE and vinegar. Yes, that’s right, freshly brewed coffee!!

Usually, coffee is not so good for the body when ingested into the stomach (coffee does have positive aspects but it seems that most natural healing experts agree that coffee is not good for health), but it’s a good stimulator and cleanser when it’s used in the colon as part of an enema.

So, twice a day, we lay on a special board that slopes towards the toilet, with a large bucket of diluted coffee-vinegar mix hanging over our heads, and let this liquid flow into us. At times it’s necessary to push and expel the liquid. Sometimes it’s interesting to see how much liquid you can allow into the colon before expelling it. Do you want to try it?!

So, how do we feel right now? Mostly we are weak and pretty tired, but not always. We wake up early (around 6:30am) and take our first detox drink, then I go for a swim in the sea. I bring my ‘reef shoes,’ snorkel and mask and swim out pretty far to the edge of the coral reef to look at the fish. The reef is in very poor condition here but there are some fish around and also some live coral. Sometimes we are hungry but not always; more tired than hungry for sure. There are wonderful dishes available here so it can be hard to see the menu and people eating and smell the appetizing aromas …

Much of our day is spent reading, taking our pills and returning to the detox counter. It’s hot here and I’m usually pretty inactive in the heat during the day anyway. There are many books and videos around here about health and natural healing, and I think we’ll have a look at some of them soon.

Well, that’s it for day one of our 7-day fast. I’ll report more soon. Stay tuned …

Well, it’s hard to believe that two weeks have passed so quickly … and I think we’ve experienced a lot in this short time.

I wrote before that Tomoko and I took a 5-day Reiki course in Dharamsala. That was really educational and inspirational. In fact, I found a good Reiki book yesterday and bought it.

It was really hard to leave McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, as we have many friends and connections there. I really felt like we had a great two weeks and spent quality time with people who are really important to our lives. I had some special times there teaching some new computer things to the volunteer organization called LHA. I taught some video editing, sound editing, and we even created ‘The Dharamsala Hill Talk’ show. This is ‘McLeod Ganj’s first weekly webcast’ and we have high hopes for it. You can find it here. Hey, download it, listen and see what you think. We’re calling it a ‘webcast’ and in the near future it will be a real LIVE webcast that will take skype calls from listeners. Right now it’s more of a podcast, but download it and see what you think.

After we left Dharamsala, we took a night bus (14 hours!!) to Dehra Dun, then a short local bus ride to Rishikesh, Uttaranchal — perhaps the ‘yoga capital of the world.’ After hearing about Rishikesh for so many years it was really nice to actually BE THERE and see it for ourselves.

On our friends’ recommendation, we went to a small yoga ashram about 5 kms. out of town and that was really a beautiful place. It was right on the GANGA river and we were up at 6am in the morning to have a swim (cold water!) in the river. Okay, I should be honest here. I swam on those mornings but Tomoko hung out on the river bank and read her book and did some yoga.

We also did some yoga on the rooftop with a picture-perfect view of the Ganga, and used the ashram’s yoga hall as well. It was a peaceful place with a lot of nature around and an excellent place to do yoga, meditation and other inward practices.

We left the ashram yesterday and spent the last night in the center of the Rishikesh area known as ‘Laxman Jhula.’ It was great for people-watching, more yoga, being close to the Ganga River, and drinking banana lassis while watching people cross the famous ‘Laxman Jhula’ bridge.

We didn’t have much time to fully experience Rishikesh, and had to get to Delhi. So, today we were up at about 4:15 am, and jumped in a taxi to Haridwar. From there we took an express train that dropped us off in New Delhi Railway Station at about noon today.

Today was spent shopping around Delhi, and it’s nice to be in this bustling city when the temperature is cool!! Starting in April, the city of Delhi can experience temperatures of 45 degrees celsius and more! But, from December to mid-March, the climate is cool and pleasant and even chilly and foggy in the middle of winter.

I just went to my favorite ‘juice man,’ and bought almost two liters of fresh carrot juice (with a little beet in it) for our journey tomorrow. Thailand is our destination and …

… we’re going to do a 7-day FAST there. It means that we’re NOT GOING TO EAT SOLID FOOD FOR SEVEN DAYS! No we’re not crazy, just looking forward to cleansing our bodies and trying a new experience.

I hope you had a chance to download the podcast that I put together while in Dharamsala. I’ll have more podcasts soon, though this month will certainly have fewer new things on my website than normal. Sorry about that!

More to come soon so please stay tuned. This is John signing out from Pahar Ganj, Delhi, India at 8:30pm on Monday, March 17th, 2006. Take care my friends.

Hey, our newest lesson, number 36, is now available on our podcast page. This lesson is an interview with my Tibetan friends Jampa and Sonam Nyima. I think they’re very interesting and I hope you also find it interesting and educational.

Enjoy and learn.

Wow, there’s so much to learn …

Tomoko and I are now studying REIKI. What is REIKI?? I don’t really know much about it right now, except that it’s a natural healing treatment. Reiki practitioners can ‘channel’ healing energy into a patient. It’s very powerful and the basic principles seem easy to learn and use. I think the most important elements are that you BELIEVE that the healing energy exists, and that you CONCENTRATE when you give the treatments.
Our class is 5-days long and we are learning to treat ourselves and others. The basic method of Reiki is touching. You place your hands on the patient (or yourself) in designated areas of the head, torso, legs and feet, and this is the way the healing energy passes through to the patient. It’s pretty simple and it seems so powerful.

Tomoko and I will finish our class on Friday and then we’ll be able to give treatments to others. It’s really so interesting to learn about natural healing methods!

Does anyone know anything about Reiki? Have you heard of it? Do you have any experience with Reiki? Do you believe that a powerful ENERGY or HEALING ENERGY exists and can be used by people for positive purposes like healing?

NAMASTE!!

Hello everyone!! Tomoko and I are now in Dharamsala, north India and we are visiting our friends. I lived here for about seven years and then I went to Japan. This is my return visit after an absence of two and a half years. Ah, it feels good to be back!!

I will write more soon.

-John