HEALTH
Rest assured
Hanging over the kitchen sink at the Glasgow Buddhist Centre is a small piece oi paper on which is written the word ‘Mindlulness‘. As spiritual as a washing-up reminder can be, it is symbolic ot the ethos oi the place. There is a sense oi calm, oi understatement and courtesy here. The stait are lriendly without being overbearing and a subtly intoxicating aroma oi incense pervades the air. All this bodes well tor the centre’s annual Open Summer Retreat, held this year irom 1-15 August at Skirling House, near Biggar in the Peebleshire countryside.
Throughout the year the GBC organises a range oi weekend and longer retreats ior men and women with some experience of meditation, but this is the only retreat designed speciiically to suit ‘beginners’. Participants can spend one or both weeks at Skirting House, iollowing a programme oi meditation, relaxation, yoga and discussion. The experience is
Skirling House: rest. loud and sleep
neither intended to be sombre our testing. ‘We’re not going to tell people that they can’t do anything,’ says Campbell McEwan, ‘although it would be better it they didn’t bring too many distractions with them.‘
The emphasis is on rest, good iood (vegetarian) and plenty oi sleep. Nor need you have Buddhist pretensions to
' get the most out oi the event. ‘In a way
what we’re doing isn’tjust to do with Buddhism,’ says McEwan. ‘A lot oi people lind that they benelit irom the meditation alone.‘ Meditation sessions usually last no longerthan about 40 minutes, and these are spent in sHence,noichanhng,asthe uninitiated might expect.
lithe prospect at a week getting in touch with your soul sounds daunting, a visit to the centre quickly allays any tears. I particularly like the reassuring introduction published in the GBC’s programme at events: ‘No “iaith” is needed, only common sense, and you don’t have to join anything to come along.‘ Rest assured. (Miranda France) Scottish Open Summer Retreat, 1-15 Aug, price perweek: £130; £100 low income; £70 unemployed. Details irom the Glasgow Buddhist Centre, 329 Sauchiehall Street, 333 0524.
SIMM- Feeling blue
Psychics have been claiming ior centuries that they can see a glow or coloured iield around the body. The aura has been reported as being between six inches and six ieet in size, multi-Iayered, constantly changing in colour, and has long been seen as an indication oi mental, spiritual and physical health. In common with Chinese homeopathy and acupuncture which uses the energy iield, or Ch‘i, a network which encircles the body and has seven chakra points along the spine, aura-readers believe that illness starts outside the body and works its way inwards.
It is said that a healthy person’s aura
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‘ is titled with bright clear colours. It
becomes muddy when a person is sick and is reduced to a thin black line when the subject is iatally ill. A bulge in a person‘s inner layer meansthe organ behind has become diseased, old injuries are seen as holes in the aura, and pain shows as sharp spikes or points.
New technology and research into the paranormal has led scientists to map the body‘s magnetic lield using electrical interierence patterns. The
; results, they claim, are startlineg
‘ similar to what psychics have been
describing. This discovery, it valid. could prove to be revolutionary. The aura could be mapped to reveal potential disease and treat it, beiore it strikes the body.
In her recent book, Lite Forces, Jillie Collings highlights the importance oi keeping the lite-iorce or aura healthy in the modern world. With immune systems weakened by pollution, stress and radiation, she believes that disease cannot be dealt with by conventional medicine alone — no cure has yet been tound ior AIDS and cancer. Good nutrition, including a diet oitresh, raw and living load, which is still rich in energy, as opposed to processed, or dead lood, regular exercise and the awareness oi the importance oi light and colour in our lives, are all essential ior keeping the glow in top condition and averting physical and mental illness. (Beatrice Colin)
Lite Forces, Jillie Collings (New English Library £9.99).
You and YourAura, Joseph Ostrom (Aquarian Press £5.99).
Healing through Colour, T. Gimbel (G.W. Daniel £8.95).
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Jan de Vries: natural solulons
Thyme for a
change
The very last thing you‘d think at reaching ior it you had a streaming cold would be some holly bark boiled in goat’s milk. Bombarding yourbody with aspirins may help. But according to the herbalist, alternative medical practitioner and author, Jan de Vries, so might the iirst concoction — and it’d be better tor you. Taken irom his latest
paperback, Traditional Home and Herbal Remedies, the recipe is an example oi his detailed research into ancient herbal cures.
De Vries came to Scotland irom Holland 25 years ago with a degree in pharmacy and a long-standing interest in natural medicine. Since then he has travelled widely in the depths oi Asia and to remote jungles to discover the secrets oi more primitive society’s healing methods. ‘l‘m sure at one thing,’ says De Vries, ‘that the natural world would provide an answer ior every illness, but man has iailed to look at it.’
In this age at last loud and TV dinners, lew people have the inclination to boil up an iniusion irom the garden every time they teel a bit oil. Neverthless the demand ior Jan de Vries‘s treatments has been steadily increasing in recent years. He now has six clinics all over Britain, all with long waiting lists. This must be a sign that people believe his alternative methods actually work.
‘l think standard medicine has its place,‘ he says, ‘but what we have to look at is the individual holistically. That is mind, body and soul. I think the biggest mistake in conventional
medicine is that you attack the problem but not the cause. The cause is not always bodily and is often mental. These long waiting lists at my clinics are a cry ior help.’
Scotland has the second highest rate at cancer in the world and perhaps it‘s no coincidence that it is also a nation with bad eating habits. ‘The iirst rule oi alternative medicine is diet,‘ De Vries explains. ‘Youriood must be your medicine and your medicine, tood. You should eat iresh lruit and vegetables and things irom nature. In Scotland the people kill themselves with kindness.’
Our hedonistic approach to liie could be changing as interest in alternative methods grows. The recently published Holistic Handbook lists hali-a-dozen herbalists in Edinburgh as well as numerous other specialists practising right across Scotland. ‘We have to learn that the more naturally we live,
the more naturally our bodies will react,’ De Vries points out. Oh well then, pass the holly bark. . . (Beatrice Colin)
Traditional Home and Herbal Remedies, Jans de Vries (Mainstream Publishing, £4.99)
The Holistic Handbook (Green Crane Press, £6.50)
68 The List 17— 3()July 1992