More on the microbiome, pre and pro biotics and other fun gut stuff

I'm being a little lazy and a little, I told you so here 

In 2015 I posted about gut bacteria and its possible benefits to health 

Since then there has been a huge interest in the subject (I'm not saying it was just my post)! and I wanted to signpost you to some other really interesting programmes 

Three from the briliant Food Programme on the BBC 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08wmmwq Hunting with the Hadza

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08x4s4v Hunting with the Hadza 2

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08xxfz5 Sandor Katz and the art of Fermentation 

Sandor also features  in these great YouTube short films 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4elw9rIs9Y   No 1 Mrs Dings Pickles 


See the original post below 



I have often spoken to my Shiatsu Clients; and any one else who will listen,  about our second (I think first, as in earliest) brain in the gut

This fascinating BBC program about  digestion features this; (around 37:08 in)

I think really worth a look

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01kpt6c/guts-the-strange-and-mysterious-world-of-the-human-stomach

The section on fecal transplant is interesting, this was recorded in 2011 and my understanding is that many people have been treated with great success. 

Our understanding of our own Eco system is so small, its role in both physical and emotional life is just starting to be understood my western science. Traditional Chinese Medicine has been looking into this for a couple of thousand years and has some fascinating ideas in this area. 

Wikipedia has this
The concept of treating fecal diseases with fecal matter originated in China millennia ago. Fourth century Chinese medical literature mentions it to treat food poisoning and severe diarrhea. 1200 years later Li Shizhen used yellow soup aka golden syrup which contained fresh dry or fermented stool to treat abdominal diseases. 'Yellow soup' was made of fecal matter and water, which was drunk by the patient

Our second brain and fecal transplant (maybe don't read this over breakfast)

I'm being a little lazy and a little, I told you so here 

In 2015 I posted about gut bacteria and its possible benefits to health 

Since then there has been a huge interest in the subject (I'm not saying it was just my post)! and I wanted to signpost you to some other really interesting programmes 

Three from the briliant Food Programme on the BBC 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08wmmwq Hunting with the Hadza

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08x4s4v Hunting with the Hadza 2

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08xxfz5 Sandor Katz and the art of Fermentation 

Sandor also features  in these great YouTube short films 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4elw9rIs9Y No 1 Mrs Dings Pickles 


See the original post below 



I have often spoken to my Shiatsu Clients; and any one else who will listen,  about our second (I think first, as in earliest) brain in the gut

This fascinating BBC program about  digestion features this; (around 37:08 in)


I think really worth a look

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01kpt6c/guts-the-strange-and-mysterious-world-of-the-human-stomach

The section on fecal transplant is interesting, this was filmed in 2011 and my understanding is that many people have been treated with great success. 

Our understanding of our own Eco system is so small, its role in both physical and emotional life is just starting to be understood my western science. Traditional Chinese Medicine has been looking into this for a couple of thousand years and has some fascinating ideas in this area. 

Wikipedia has this
The concept of treating fecal diseases with fecal matter originated in China millennia ago. Fourth century Chinese medical literature mentions it to treat food poisoning and severe diarrhea. 1200 years later Li Shizhen used yellow soup aka golden syrup which contained fresh dry or fermented stool to treat abdominal diseases. 'Yellow soup' was made of fecal matter and water, which was drunk by the patient

The mind secrets thoughts

The mind secrets thoughts
In the same way that the
Salivary Glands secretes saliva

So why do we take them quite so seriously? 
They can be really useful but maybe we don't have to believe all of them.
And of those we do believe in, it may be useful not to hold on to them quite so tightly.

When we do grasp them tightly, we often experience mental rope burn, a painful condition which often seems to have the affect of making us hold on even tighter. 

Thoughts are so often in the past or the future, very seldom in the present. The body however is always in the present. And if attended to closely can give clear indications of where we are and what we are feeling in a really clear and open way.

"My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened".

                                                               Michel de Montaigne

The question of health

The question of health has been concerning me recently, specifically if one can be sick and healthy at the same time.

Is health the absences of disease or more or less than this? The World Health Organisation takes a very broad stance on this ‘Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ (have a look here)

This sets the bar very high and I’m not sure that anyone ever has or will fulfil this definition, or if someone does it would be for 15 mins on a good day. So that’s not much use in a practical way.

What started me thinking about this was the early illness and death of Shizuto Masunaga the ‘founder’ of Zen Shiatsu; he was a keen smoker and died of Lung Cancer. I was less interested in the nature of his death than the question of if he could be with cancer and still be considered healthy. This may sound like, and indeed be a very stupid question but it has been bothering me for some time.

We are all dying and I suppose in that way we are all not healthy. One eastern idea of health is balance and of being in balance, can one be very seriously ill and still have balance within that, to be in pain and still be healthy. I feel that the idea of balance may allow for this; that the balance can move and shift to accommodate where we are at. If I think about my body when I was 16 and how it is now the difference is so marked. My every day experience of my body today would have had me rushing to the doctor when I was 16. It’s just ageing (dying) and for me now, normal. I’m fine, in a good place for my age just not 16.

I don’t have an answer but I will continue ruminating on this I’m sure, if you wish to join me please leave a comment below.