Preface

Spiritual awakening is the most important issue in health and healing. Self-reflection, leading to an awareness of the endless order of the universe, is the basis for healing the body, mind, and spirit. Self-reflection leads us to abandon self-destructive habits and bring our way of eating and living into greater harmony with nature. A centrally-balanced, macrobiotic diet based on whole cereal grains, beans, fresh local vegetables, and other whole natural foods is the most basic reflection of a way of life in harmony with nature. A naturally balanced diet provides the biological foundation for genuine health, while the spiritual foundation is provided by a deep sense of gratitude toward nature, the universe, and life itself.

A peaceful mind is fundamental to achieving good health. It is important to minimize stress and relax mentally and physically. Holistic healing encourages everyone to have a peaceful mind and a positive attitude toward life. However, in today's society, when a person develops a chronic illness, he may receive a negative prognosis from his doctor. A negative prognosis has the opposite effect. It limits a person's freedom and causes stress and anxiety. It can have a negative effect on the outcome of an ill-ness. In order to overcome a negative prognosis, it is important for a person to keep a positive image of the future while at the same time taking constructive steps to change his way of life. Making an optimistic plan for the future can be very helpful in this regard.

The quality of our environment also has a powerful effect on our health. A natural, non-toxic environment supports the process of healing, while an artificial, toxic environment limits it.

(something is missing here)…cess of healing, while an artificial, toxic environment limits it, Such things as concrete buildings, fluorescent lights, the artificial materials used in clothing and home furnishings, and the constant vibration of televisions, air conditioners, computers, electric stoves, and microwave ovens disrupts the natural flow of healing energy. It is important to live as close to nature as possible. A regular daily life, in which we live in harmony with the cycle of day and night by being active during the day and getting adequate rest at night, enhances the recovery of health. Eating regular meals and keeping a reasonable daily schedule also helps to restore harmony in body and mind.

Our health depends on the active flow of blood and energy throughout the body. A daily half-hour walk helps activate circulation, and is highly recommended. Other types of exercise are fine if they are enjoyable. However, it is not necessary to exercise to the point of exhaustion. If a person is unable to walk for an extended period, simply getting outside in the fresh air for ten minutes every day is helpful. Daily body scrubbing also activates blood and energy flow, as do practices such as Do-In and shiatsu massage, all of which are described in this book.

In some cases, these measures are sufficient to restore health. In others, simple, natural home remedies may be necessary for a short time until balance is restored. These include internal and external preparations such as special dishes, drinks, and plasters made from daily foods. The highest quality home remedies are easy to prepare at home, inexpensive, non-toxic, yet highly effective. All of the home remedies described in this book are prepared from common daily foods and fulfill these criteria.

Self-reflection and spiritual awakening cannot be provided by someone else. They are a product of our own self-realization and practice. Things such as how to balance daily food and how to make our environment and activity health-supporting can be learned from others, as can basic home remedies and simple energy treatments.

Ideally, however, once the basic principles of healthful living have been learned, a person should be able to manage daily health practices on his own without having to depend on someone else. Holistic healing thus encourages self-reliance and the self-management of health.

The origin of sickness is our view of life. Therefore, holistic healing begins with the central issues spiritual awakening and self-realization, together with daily diet and activity- and employs peripheral symptomatic techniques only when necessary. The holistic approach is opposite to that of conventional medicine, which begins with symptomatic techniques while leaving these central issues completely untouched. It is for this reason that conventional medicine has been unable to stem the rise of degenerative disease.

Spiritual awakening is based on an awareness of our innate human freedom, including an understanding of how we create sickness and unhappiness through our thinking and behavior, and how we can change our condition toward genuine health. The purpose of holistic healing is to guide everyone toward self-realization and the free management of their health and their life. The central issues in health and healing self-reflection and self-realization are completely free, while the techniques employed by our current health care system are often very expensive. Ideally, health should be the product of daily life itself, including our way of thinking, diet, and activity. The way to health should be simple rather than complicated, affordable rather than expensive, and accessible to everyone as a part of day-to-day living. Moreover, the way to personal health should be the same as the way to social and planetary health. Creating a healthy and peaceful future for all people on earth is actually the goal of holistic macrobiotic healing.

In this book we discuss the central issues in health and healing, beginning with principles that can unify alternative and conventional, traditional and modern, and Easter and Western approaches to health care. We discuss the unity of mind and body, and the effect that our way of thinking, diet, and activity have on our health and happiness. We explain the process of healing according to the traditional Oriental concept of Ki or energy, and discuss how healing is primarily an energetic phenomenon. We also discuss traditional Oriental macrobiotic diagnosis, the principles and practice of the macrobiotic diet, the use of daily food as medicine, and macrobiotic home remedies.

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the creation of this book. We especially wish to extend our gratitude to Iwao Yoshizaki, the former president of Japan Publications, Inc., for inspiring the creation of this book. Mr. Yoshizaki, who passed away last autumn, was a personal friend and a pioneer in macrobiotic publishing. Following his vision, Japan Publications, Inc., took the lead in publishing a wide variety of books on macrobiotics, Oriental medicine and philosophy, and holistic health. Mr. Yoshizaki was truly a citizen of one world, and we hope that this book will contribute to his dream of planetary health and peace.

We would also like to thank Yoshiro Fujwara, the New York representative of Japan Publications, Inc., for his encouragement and support. We thank Alex Jack of One Peaceful World Press in Becket for supervising the production of the book, and Gale Jack for copyediting the manuscript. We also thank Wendy Esko and Lynda Shoup for their inspiration and support, and Bettina Zumdick for contributing illustrations for the book.

Michio Kushi

Edward Esko

Becket, Massachusetts 

April, 1993