A look at Diabetes: from a martial art perspective.

The Yellow Race being in my opinion the most apt pupils of the art of war are generally speaking the culture we study in our individual arts to gain greater depth in our passion to live the arts. Wai always taught me that qigong and herbs were what made an art internal. Buddhism migrated via India, but we all know the Daoist traditions of martial arts are what Fung Doe Duk used to create the “fast internal” needed to blitzkrieg through Tai Chi Chuan defenses. There is a Doaist sexual position Dr. Stephen Chang talks about in his book The Great Tao. It is basically a missionary position with the female wrapping her legs around the males’ thighs. The penetration is only one to two inches and of course tantric. The poor Chinese used culturally transferred kung fu to each generation anew for health. Qigong came before Tai Chi Chuan and is a necessity to practice in my opinion to keep blood platelets open and qi balanced so ‘dis-ease’ in general can be treated with preventative exercise that also doubles for fast internal self defense when taught by the right teacher. Qigong is the first line of defense in preventative medicine. As I proceed, keep in mind that cleanliness IS Godliness! Nothing impure can enter that which is pure. To a poor person doing qigong, the next cheapest thing would be herbs. We will cover herbs as well as some Wild West cowboy type old-timer natural medicine treatments for diabetes. Being an apt STUDENT is not the same as being the only true MASTER. Americans are the masters of military matters and always will be. It has something to do with all freedom loving folks wanting to get here since the last REAL war – WW 2.

In general diabetes is the body going into a degenerative state due to digestion problems. In TCM we would refer to that whole group as the Triple Heater. There are three sections of the triple heater meridian. I will discuss two common types of diabetes; one is Diabetes Mellitus. This is where starch foods turn to sugar in the body while nature is trying to rid excess sugar.

Under the stomach, near the outlet is located the pancreas. This large gland called the pancreatic duct is not the sole nemesis in this disease. Unbalanced diets of de-natured sugar, fats and starches are the main culprit along with improper food combining, lack of luke warm water on an empty stomach and regular large consumptions of meats, and de-natured flours. Restaurants and fast food places are what we all like but serve mainly de-natured food. Remember how Kwai Chang Cane ate? My former teacher would say, the Chinese eat for heath, not just to consume. Learning traditional Chinese cooking from the book Chinese Herbal Medicine by Howard Reid, will assist you. His book also covers many more herbs useful for diabetes. It takes four hours to digest protein and two to three for starches. Fruit can be acid, sub-acid or sweet. Each of these categories have combination rules. For example, sweet would not be best with acid, but acid and sub-acid fruit would be an acceptable combination more so. Meat and fruit or starch and fruit at the same meal, put stress on the digestive tract.

Controlling the insidious disease of diabetes in my opinion starts with knowledge. The ‘doing’ is wisdom. The truth of this becomes revealed and freedom of balanced health is achieved. When we do not absorb food correctly, we gain weight. When the colon cannot absorb nutrition and the system is stressed removing poisons and toxins, quality eating for health becomes vital. Since this new way of eating tends to shed pounds, many choose high enemas to aid the system in the cleansing process. There are milder methods that take time. Artificial sweets, white flour products, tea, coffee, tobacco, liquor, cola and all denatured food and harmful drinks should be avoided. We all get more disciplined with the way we eat as we age, lose our teeth or disease sets in. The first form of discipline any martial artist learns is saving food! We live high on the hog and enjoy it in the moments, but must recon with the piper eventually. Another big one with diabetes to remember is to avoid aluminum cooking utensils, baking powder, and soda. Soda decreases the activity of the pancreatic juices. Those same pancreatic juices are used to digest protein, fats and carbohydrates.

Symptoms

The constant hunger comes from the fact that the body is not absorbing the food and this is like a septic tank’s leach lines being clogged. Frequent urination, thirst, progressive weakening, over appetite, mental depression (toxins start floating into the blood system,) irritability and restlessness can be present. Not all of these are in every case nor did I cover them all.

Treatment

The only common sense treatment must address the digestive tract. I personally use bee pollen although some folks are allergic, to help put the healthy enzymes back into my system that aid in my digestion. The high enema thing is not for everyone of course, but there are plenty of good books out there on how to give yourself an enema. Basically, some believe in high enemas daily. Four quarts of boiling water are poured over one tablespoon of powdered burdock root, yellow dock root or bayberry bark; pick one. Daily hot baths are used with intermittent cold towel rubs. The enema is taken before the bath. Lying in the water from thirty minutes to two hours will greatly help rid sugar and waste matter from the system. While actually in the hot tub, drink tea from a list of the following: red raspberry leaves, blueberry leaves, dandelion root or pleurisy root. Remember to use stainless steel or earthenware without lead in the glaze. Boiling water should be poured high over the leaves and let to sit for at least three to five minutes. The pouring high is to insure the water is pranised with qi from mixing with air during the pour. Also, remember that roots need to be simmered a bit on low heat about ten minutes and let to stay covered once the fire is off to ensure greater extraction of the herbal ingredients. A Chinese grinder as I have mentioned before, will greatly aid in these type of preparations, as the herb roots… as long as they are very dry, can be ground. If one feels too warm or gets a slight heart palpitation, sit up a bit and use a cool water sponge application. An alternative is to shower off in cooler water and return to the tub. Repeat this process a few times and finish with a cool shower and vigorous towel rub. For those of you familiar with salt glows, they are very beneficial in increasing circulation and removing old dead skin.. This helps keep the pores open and the skin more active. Notice the constant reference for the need of water in treatment; this is because primarily water is the universal solvent. In addition, notice that fire is needed to heat water for poultices and fomentations…not just cold water…same as the tea needed. The deeper truism here is that nothing can pollute fire. After the morning bathing as mentioned, further treatment throughout the day should include fomentations. Fomentations are similar to poultices, but with fomentations, we are using folded cloth to cover the spine, stomach, liver, spleen and pancreas daily using hot water. Poultices are often mixed with herbal compounds as in Chinese kung fu with the term “paddings.” There is an art to folding and making fomentations work right. Often the inner dipping of cloth in hot water is followed by a covering of same so as to trap heat longer. Running one’s hands in cold water makes it easier to work with the hot material. Since diabetes is a digestive problem, rule 1 is to keep the bowels loose, with perhaps three good eliminations every day. This is imperative but unlikely to happen without discipline to not put so much junk (denatured food,) back into the body. Stretching within limitation of the individual is very helpful for peristaltic action as are things like qigong. To just say have a positive attitude would be ok, but perhaps re-emphasizing that happiness is our duty and not our destiny would be apropos in reminding us we can do many things at once in this hectic life if we but do not take ourselves so seriously. This later point is crucial to embodying true humor.

Diet Remember that this is the one big cause of diabetes. Martial artists need to cultivate discipline and learn that the home base is all-important. We all should have the common sense to know it would be ideal if no more than one family lived on a self-sufficient acre in the sun. No diet will equal growing as much as you can yourself. All intelligent folks want to live in the sun because it is the source of all other energy. This said, we all have to work with here/now limitations. Do not be daunted by your local health food store. If you are on a budget or not; always focus on fruit, vegetables and herbs grown locally and in season. Real martial artists enjoy preparing healthy meals and knowing how to work with herbs and other things mentioned like poultices and fomentations. Herbs will assist in supplying much-needed alkaline elements for the body. Meat is often excluded and dairy is greatly reduced. Stimulating herbs to avoid would be cayenne, elder, prickly ash, peppermint, ginger, cloves, red sage, raspberry, nettle pennyroyal, rue shepard’s purse and valerian. Other things that would not hurt to curtail would be things like oyster, chickens, clams, crabs, etc. Try to avoid all starches and sugars except natural sweets such as ripe fruit juice. Learning to use soy products will make up for protein, and so will the right nut butters and the all-important avocado. Oatmeal or a good seven-grain hot cereal is worth the time in the morning to prepare, albeit with diabetes, the bran, oatmeal and even slippery elm can be made into a water that is excellent to drink. In other words, soak in water for overnight or make a tea like drink. Learn to sprout soybeans and other beans and seeds for making health snacks and salads. Some like to sprout soybeans about two inches and steam them. Try to get raw peanut or almond butter and use zwieback crackers. Greens of all kinds are good, but especially cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, okra, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, onions baked or boiled, ripe olives, lettuce, string beans, carrots, carrot juice, spinach, celery, eggplant and radishes. Baked Irish potatoes and coconut milk are also great.

You would be amazed at how misunderstood martial qigong is. There are actually people teaching what they call iron palm, and yet their qigong if any lacks breath control that signifies authenticity to five elder lineage. Do martial qigong, whether it is for iron body, iron palm, chi projection or internal balancing and healing. Martial Qigong’s ship of authentic five elder lineages is not even out of the port yet. Qigong alone will not make an art truly internal…you need herbal knowledge. The following herbs can be used singly or in combinations, you study at your own risk like everything else in this article. Always consult a doctor, this article is for historical purposes and not meant to treat diabetes. That said, most of our modern biotech concoctions root in the natural plant kingdom…synthesized or not! Indian hemp, Beech, blue cohosh, golden seal, white pine, poplar, queen of the meadow, saw palmetto berries, sumac berries, uva ursi, raspberry leaves and pleurisy root are a nice group to blend or use singularly once you experience each separately on its own.

Diabetes Insipidus uses similar treatments as Mellitus. If the kidneys or nerves are affected, try cornsilk, fennel, sculcap, nerve root or wild cherry bark. Learning to create your own tea ceremony is a blast and will cut down on coffee, beer or colas. Get your water room temperature and on an empty stomach!

I have covered in prior columns how to tap intro the healing properties of stones and how I put them in my lap during seated meditations to reflect with their qualities. Pink Opal is such a stone! It renews the self and guides the balancing between conscious self and inner knowing. It will help release negative old patterns and deepen inner insights. The mind and heart space are cleansed. It will help you in entering and maintaining the meditative state. Connections to other planes of existence are furthered. One can learn to make a simple elixir from this stone in water to calm and sooth. Legend has it helpful to diabetes and good for the skin topically.

In closing, I wanted to add some humor to such a dry regimented article of do’s and don’ts. We all create our own reality. This environment of 2006 globally is showing us things I wrote about years ago. Discipline is important, but so is common sense and your financial situation. These things like cooking, cleaning and shopping take time. Get to know a health conscious store and shop there regularly. It takes time to break the myth that eating healthy has to be complicated and expensive. In truth, it is what will make your having to make a living in this life beyond retirement a lot less stressful and much more fun and productive. Science has not perhaps proven it yet, but my belief is that boredom is the biggest cause of death. Put some cold water on your face and hit the cold steel!

Can you feel spring 2006 coming! Get your hands in the dirt, as a martial artist that works the soil is enjoying the most human of human endeavors.

This is but one google of one percent of the information out there on diabetes. Special thanks to Back To Eden – Jethro Kloss 1939, Love is in the Earth – A kaleidoscope of crystals Updated - Melody and Stephen Chang’s “The Great Tao.”