In taking on the position as a weblogger on the subject of natural healing and self-healing, it seems only appropriate that I meet certain popular subjects with the insights of this field.

So the recent Wall Street Journal article on the malfunctory defibrillator wires from Medtronic's product seems to stimulate a natural healing response.

First the problem discussed is that the surgically implanted device, designed to deal with abnormal heart beats or fibrillations in a person suffering from that kind of heart disease, uses wires that are breaking and thereby causing an unwanted and useless shock and in at least one case death.

The company discussed the rather rare problem and pointed out that the reality is that the danger from the malfunction is lower than the danger of surgery to fix the problem. Hmmm.

This sounds a little vexing to me. Here is a device that is less dangerous when it malfunctions than when it is surgically introduced or repaired. I wonder then if the device is such a good idea in the first place?

I am not a medical doctor and therefore I am not qualified to decide the dangers and whether they outweigh other risks.

One thing I am sure of and that is the vast majority of people who get defibrillators in the first place could be healed naturally.

I know enough about the healing arts generally to know that there are always cases that stump the practitioner in any part of medicine. We work hard at minimizing this and the best way to minimize it continually appears to be working with people preventatively to change their beliefs and their behaviors so that they never get sick and when they have a problem they respond perfectly to the remedy given.

Still, the rate of success is so high and the rate of risk so low in treating heart disease naturally that it is surely appropriate to discuss those natural options here.

Certainly for hundreds of years and probably for thousands of years nature's heart remedies have shown up to save lives.

The mildest and perhaps best known of these is hawthorn berry and sprig. These contain phyto-meds that cause the heart and the capillaries to take up nutrients more rapidly and thus heal. Hawthorn also contains phyto-meds that fight free-radical damage and lack of enzymes in the heart and cardio-vascular system.

Today, most herbalists worth mentioning include a few other herbs:

Cayenne almost immediately begins to dissolve plaque and deposits on the arteries and lowers blood pressure. It improves circulation with an uncanny ability to ensure the proper distribution of blood supply. In addition to this cayenne has been shown to repair and nourish heart tissue all by itself almost indefinately so that the heart stays strong for life.

I recently encountered a respected colleague who told me about his miracle supplement for the heart that "chealated off plaque in several months, improving year after year."

I always appreciate the efforts of people to help others heal, but frankly that is a bit slow for me. Cayenne runs circles around those figures, cleaning out the cardiovascular system usually in a few short weeks. The trick is using it properly. Cayenne works best when it is taken with water about fifteen minutes before each major meal. This can be done in many ways but the most basic is to take 1/4 teaspoon of it stirred into cool water. I know some people who make up a cayenne-rich master cleanser instead and that sounds good to me.

Garlic: this herb does wonders for high blood pressure and for oxygen flow. If fluid is being managed in the body properly, this will almost certainly make a profound impact on overall cardiovascular health.

Fluids are an issue and one that we will address below, so be patient.

Garlic helps with infection, congestion, immune response and blocked arteries.

Motherwort: this is one of several herbs that effectively normalizes heartbeat. This herb works well and has a rich history for the purpose. I am not saying it is the best one but it is easy to get and it is effective.

Frequently motherwort will be used with something else that works for this specific purpose, sometimes black cohosh, kudzu, shepherd's purse or dong quai will be used with motherwort or alone.

Cactus Grandiflorus: This herb, is a stronger colleague of hawthorn. We did not mention that hawthorn contains cardiac glycosides which will increase nutrient uptake of the heart but will also strengthen heart beat, normalize heart beat and clear excess fluids from around the heart (mentioned below as a major problem in all disease).

Ginger: Ginger has as much power to prevent cardiovascular disease as cayenne. Actually, ginger is slightly different, but that is more advanced herbology as you will get when you take my on-line courses.

Ginger helps ease spasms and prevents and reverses the onset of heart attack and stroke (as does cayenne) and is particularly powerful when used with cayenne.

Ginger also clears upper digestive blockage that can put pressure on the heart.

Red Clover Blossom: Probably could be replaced with kudzu or any number of chelatives that also normalize the heart relative to hormone activity.

Only recently has evidence begun to appear to show that the heart is a key endocrine gland as well as the circulatory organ. Red clover also thins blood and reduces cholesterol.

In addition to a good heart formula (which may or may not resemble the one above) heart disease and heart arrythmia can be dealt with by paying attention to three more factors:

Factor 1: Diet is a key factor. Diet for the heart simply means reducing the load on the heart and on digestion so that the body has a chance to rejuvenate. We live in a world endlessly seeking something to add or take that will fix its problems. The problems though, have far more to do with excess than they have to do with lack. Most people would be fine if they just took the load off of their systems.

Taking a load off means good elimination (which you will learn all about in my cleansing course in my on-line homestudy courses) and it means avoiding foods that are a burden to digest. This means all animal products and processed foods that are enzyme deplete or concentrated. Our rule is 75% raw, live plant food and 25% lightly steamed or low-heated vegetables and sprouted grains and beans. We sprout everything that will sprout. We allow cooked vegetables, potatoes and squash and such but to be used as a small portion of one meal per day and no more. You can jump on this plan at whatever level you are ready for. The closer you get the more results you will see.

Traci's Transformational Kitchen Cookbook and Traci's Transformational Health Principles are now available for purchase and you can look them up on-line or buy the e-copy from this website. These are powerful tools for helping you change your diet and really are the best books of their type to date.

Factor 2: Thoughts and beliefs also can load up our system. Anything we stress over we probably should consider as expendable in our lives. That is to say, if ever we are "stressed" we either need to change our perception or change what we are actually focusing on with our energy.

This is a long discussion that I take well in hand in my self-help series called "Freedom from Bondage" that you can buy on this website.

Basically, though, the rudimentary idea is that you do not have to believe your beliefs and you can choose to believe something different about life. You should work on choosing hope and faith instead of fear, love and kindness (to yourself and others) instead of anger and rash behavior.

Nothing is available through anger that is not twice as easy and sweet through kindness and love.

If you happen to be Christian, I recommend that you take a very serious look at the Sermon on the Mount and take those teachings a little more literally in your life.

Factor 3: Movement of fluid. It has often been suggested that exercise is vital to a healthy heart. Actually, though, the movement of fluid is the key, not exercise per se.

Some exercises, regardless of heartbeat impact, are better than others. Those that pump fluid, require deep breathing and relaxed meditation, bouncing, twisting at the hips or jumping are superior. These are all best done with intermissions of extremely deep breathing and holding the last breath while envisioning the awakening or "turning on" of each major body system, including the heart.

This movement of fluid can also be accomplished by bouncing on a rebounder, getting regular massage or doing dry skin brushing.

The above guidelines for diet will certainly reduce lost and stagnant fluid in your body, but more needs to be done. Almost always when I find out that something is not working to heal a person as it should I find stagnant fluid.

Thoughts and movement are partners with diet in affecting the removal and return of fluids.

Any cell that gets stagnant fluid around it will become sick and malfunctory.

On this note, I am compelled to refer you to a wonderful resource called speed healing or applied lymphology. You can go to www.speedhealing.com and get more information or order the course. This will help fill the gap left by nutrition, thinking and herbal medicine. You will understand many principles being ignored even in the natural healing world.

So to sum things up, you can probably always, but certainly in the vast majority of cases eliminate the need to ever go to a doctor or get a surgery where you are relying on a man-made and therefore flawed piece of technology to save your life. All you have to do is be willing to take charge.

We use specific herbs, diet, fluid movement and thought repatterning to effect a total and permanent cure. Such is possible and inevitable when you follow the path that leads to it.

Take the initiative in your health. This will change everything.

God Bless,

Kal Sellers, MH