TeamRAW

This is a quick post…we are just back from the hospital. Dr T looked at today’s x-ray and said “Interesting”…”What is it Dr T, is it smaller?” I asked. “It has a crack in it,” he said. Aha!!! the Chanca Piedra. I told him about it and left him the leaflet from Whole World Botanicals where they wildcraft the herb in the Amazon River Basin. Feels much better to take a root from the Amazon, wildcrafted by locals and prepared with healing in mind than to take Big Pharma’s crap. So we are going to continue using the Chanca Piedra (and there are so many other things this magical herb helps…jaundice, joint pain, hep A, even possibly HIV).

The next x-ray is in 2 weeeks, I am excited to see if the stone cracks and maybe we won’t need the nest treatment. I can FEEL this herb working in my body and to see physical evidence that soemting has happened in only 2 days of three droppers full of tincture – that simple. I am upping the dose to 8 times a day…there is no toxicity so I don’t need to worry about that!

Well, I have to do some things, but I had to share my excitement with you…this just feels right…and we are still simmering our Chinese herbs. We have two weeks to see the miracles of nature. Of course I will continue to share.

Make it a RAW-some day
Peace and Blessings
Shivie and Cemaaj

Good evening, it is Wednesday evening and I am home, which ALWAYS makes me happy…even though I sitting here feeling nauseous (and having vomited a little while ago, TMI maybe but this is my reality!). No matter how I feel, I always feel best at home. So here I am, I do hope you are somewhere that makes you feel the same.

So, we are still dealing with the challenges that have arisen with the kidney stone…a failed Lithotripsy treatment last week yielded little more than 2 days off work and $100 co-pay, followed by another $70 the next day seeing the Dr T at the hospital…talk about a curve ball…

Really, my year was not supposed to look like this…my mind is whirring like it might blow up I have so much time to think and a limited capacity to do anything that involves too much movement. So I am sitting here with my mind…not necessarily a bad place to be. And know that when I say this year was not supposed to look like this, I don’t mean to imply I have full control of what happens, but I am co-pilot in my journey. I am just not the driver, so my plans have been rather unceremoniously cast aside and my focus has been completely diverted to researching the kidney stone…and have we researched!!! So, I have surrendered to the process and time it is taking to rid my body of this ghost of my past life but I am also starting to want to be more active too. By this I mean that as we have another 3 week wait until we can do the Western treatment again, I am going to try alternate remedies.

Yes, the doctors practically laugh me out of the room when I mention herbs and tinctures but I believe in them. Not to mention cultures that still rely on them…After all, in the Amazon they don’t have lithotripsy tables, they use Chanca Piedra . Chanca Piedra means “stone breaker” and has been used by the indigenous people of the Amazon for generations to promote the body’s natural elimination of gallstones and kidney stones. Studies suggest that it helps the body remove calcium deposits and lower LDL levels…and much more. The link has an excellent article the myriad health benefits of this little plant native to the rainforests of the Amazon Basin and to southern India and China.

I have been taking the tincture, 3 times a day, for 2.5 days. My back aches, I am nauseous…I wonder if something is happening…could it be attacking the crystalline structure of the stone resding within me? I do feel that even if Chanca Piedra does not help in this instance, it will be a mighty ally in the pristine maintenance of a healthy kidney function…this will not happen again…

I also have 3 bags of Chinese herbs that we are simmering for tea. My amazing friend and accupuncturist dropped off her magic mix this morning…thank you Angel Cindy. I just do not have complete confidence in western medicine and only find myself at their mercy because this erupted as an emergency…I will take my little bottle of tincture to share with Dr T tomorrow…as far doctors go, Dr T (Dr Carl Thomas but we call him Dr T!), is a good one…a little off scale when it comes to recovery, one of the nurses said he was a great doctor but sometimes a little too positive…anyway, he is coming in from his vacation to see me and another patient tomorrow morning, he definitely loves his work and cares for his patients. That said, I do not desire to make a habit of seeing him or anyone else in that huge, money grabbing, monster building of sickness and disease, aka Kaiser Permanente! we appreciate that…thanks Dr T…

We do not appreciarte co-pays however. I am fortunate my employer cares about me and started to give me medical insurance a couple of years ago. I have hardly used it but for a bike accident and annual exam, I don’t even know the name of my primary care doctor! In spite of health insurance, we are now at $1400 for co-pays…and before you remind me that $1400 is a fraction of what it would cost without insurance, I would remind you that I am British and cannot conceive of losing my house (if I had one!) as a result of a car accident or kidney stone…and no, the National Health (Britains FREE healthcare system) is not perfect, but it will not take the shirt of your back for bringing you back to life…

And this healthcare we are paying for puts us at NUMBER 33 in terms of healthy nations…33!!! America the superpower is 32 nations behind in terms of the health of its’ populus…need I point out that something is wrong with this picture, we have some of the most expensive medical services in the world, we have more information about food and nutrition, and the impact they have on health or disease…but we keep BigPharma big, fat and happy whilst we get sicker and sicker. THIS COUNTRY IS 33rd in THE WORLD for health…when will we wake up, or will we just keep dying…or worst still, will we just continue to maintain sickness, prolonging life in a weakened state, paying Big Pharma for the privelege…I shudder at the thought…

Well, enough of me, time to try and eat the potato we put in the oven earlier…no, I haven’t managed to say a fraction of what is going on in my mind but you have probably had enough…

One last thing, talking of things not being the way they are supposed to be, this blog was not meant to be about hospitals, morphine and kidney stones…but then again, maybe it was supposed to be about exactly what it is about…life…the joys…the challenges…the curve balls…

We will be transitioning from this back to our intended purpose, to share the information on health with you…we are not trained health consultants, we are just passionate about knowledge, particularly pertaining to the body and health. And we invite you to join us on our Journey to Optimal Health, not to necessarily do what we do, but to keep us company and pool our information for the greatest wealth, our health.

Good night sweet ones,
Sleep with the Angelz
Dance with the Starz, and
Sing with the Moon

In gratitude,with love and Blessings
Make it a RAWsome life
Shivie and Cemaaj
TeamRAW

And when it seems that this path of human life is too much for our delicate Spirits, the following quote from my teacher, Yogi Bhajan always helps me:

“We are not human beings here for a Spiritual experience, we are Spiritual Beings here for a human experience

Greetings!!!

It seems as though I have inhabited an alien world since you last heard from me. I am slowly emerging from this alien world. As many of you know (thank you to all who are checking out the blog at www.teamraw.com and FaceBook for updates, I appreciate your kind thoughts), I (Shivie) have been struggling with the excruciating pain of a kidney stone and dealing with Western Medicine (which can be a harrowing experience in and of it itself!). In the last few weeks we have made 4 trips to the ER, stayed over 3 days, had surgery, taken more perkocet, dilaudid (morphine) and antibiotics than you can wave a stick at..it had to be done, as resistant as we were to delve into Western Medicine…check out the blog for more on this particular aspect of our journey onto 2009…

And yes, some people have quizzically looked at me with that thought “umm, if this raw food is so healthy why are you so sick?” They had a point on being so sick, I couldn’t leave my bed for 2.5 weeks, this has NEVER happened. But let’s not get confused…yes, poor diet causes poor health, a whole food diet promotes health. I have been 200lbs, eating a very poor diet, full of soda, alcohol, drugs (pharmaceutical and a little recreational back in the lawyer days!), meat, dairy etc…For the last seven years I have been transitioning my lifestyle, from daily routine to food. I have literally “changed my life.”

I truly see this event as part of my old lifestyle that needs to be “released” in order to continue my Journey to Optimal Health. The body is a factory of billions of cells, each doing their job and processes and each, in doing so, creates toxic waste. This toxic waste needs to be dealt with efficiently and speedily – just think of your kitchen trash, not smelly if you take it out often but lapse a few days and you have that funky smell – well, the same with the toxic waster we create on a cellular level. Add to that all the pollutants we routinely take in every second…we have a factory that needs a shut down every now and then (the concept behind cleansing and/or fasting). In addition to the daily waste, there is waste that accumulates more deeply and manifests as a physical symptom…in my instance a prevalence of kidney infections over the last 25 years leave my small, left kidney susceptible to build up that would create a stone. See the blog entry “My Own Mortgage Crisis: the New Body Forecloses on the Old” for more on this (www.teamraw.com).

So, as you may imagine, we are a little disrupted here at TeamRAW. I have not been in the kitchen for 4 weeks, I have no idea what ingredients I need to replenish, and I still am not able to stand much with the stent (a tube draining from my kidney to my bladder which causes 24/7 discomfort!). But I am on my way back, I feel 500% better than I did. I am back at work – although slow…and I want to get back in the kitchen…and I want you there too…

At this point, we are waiting for two more key treatments until we have a more complete idea of timing. Currently we are looking at early March. So we propose to take March to Recharge…the only way i could surrender to this process and take all the nasty drugs was knowing that we would do a juice feast to cleanse out the toxins. We will be undertaking a longer, and therefore deeper, juice feast than we have previously done. The details are still workinthemselveses out and we are deciding whether to do 30 or 92 days…

As we enjoy the last half of the winter days and approach the magical time of Spring, the time of renewal and bloom, take a moment to reflect on what you want for yourself. Today is never to late to start, and once you start asking the question you might bsurpriseded at the answer that presents itself to you.

Stay tuned for class dates to be released for late April 2009, the markets will be abundant, we will be in Spring and you and your body will be ready to take it to the next level, and we will be here to take you there. Prepare to fly…this makes me think of another favorite quote “even you do not know how far you can fly if you do not spread your wings”

And if in the meantime you have questions or would like more information please call or email us, find me on facebook under Shivie Kaur…check out the blog for intermediate updates and articles to get you ready for undertaking a healthier path. Once again, if you are still reading at the end of this long newsletter…thank you…be kind to yourself and make it a Raw-SOME day.

Shivie and Cemaaj

TeamRAW

415.235.8162