How To Fight Back Against Cold Sores & Herpes Naturally

Great article I read from “Wellness with Rose”

via “How To Fight Back Against Cold Sores & Genital Herpes… All Naturally” « Wellness With Rose.

Cold sores suck. You get that tingle in your lip and you know it’s coming. The dread sets in waiting for that
week of pain and embarrassment that comes with the outbreak.

Having a cold sore is a miserable process, but what are you going to do? Western Medicine insists that there is no cure for Herpes Simplex 1, the virus that causes cold sore outbreaks.

With all due respect to the Western Medicine Community, I disagree. I believe, and this is just my belief, that the body can heal from ANYTHING.

And, for those of you who carry the Herpes virus, there is hope! Your body is an incredible machine that is capable of fighting and healing any malady that comes its way. It’s just a matter of finding the right key to unlock the chemical changes needed for your biology to heal itself.

Over 60% of the population are carriers of Herpes 1, the virus that causes cold sores and 40% are carriers of Herpes 2, the virus that causes genital herpes. When carriers experience outbreaks of either cold sores or genital herpes, they are displaying outer signs of an inner war being waged between the viral infection that has taken up host and the body’s immune system.

Cold sores and genital herpes outbreaks tend to increase in colder weather because your body is using extra energy just to keep your body’s temperature up, dealing with added stressors that accompany the winter holidays, and coping with the increased sugar intake from all those seasonal treats. This leaves your forces weakened, and opens the door for viral troops to break through and break out.

You can fight back. By taking a holistic approach and analyzing the body’s entire system, you can reinforce your Immunity Army’s troops and kill off the foreign invaders once and for all! Here are some recommendations for doing just that:

Boost your immune system by taking Astragalus. Available in pill form or as a tea, this herb increases your natural T-Cell levels. Your T-Cells are like the Navy SEALs of your immune system, providing a highly intelligent, extensively trained front line of defense against any foreign bacteria or viral invaders. Also, increase your levels of Vitamin C and Zinc as these minerals further reinforce your immunity, equipping your T-Cell warriors with armor and ammunition.

Add a 300mg L-lysine supplement to your daily regimen. An essential amino acid, L-lysine affects the virus’ RNA and shuts down its ability to replicate itself in the body. L-lysine won’t kill the existing virus, but it will inhibit the viral army from adding any more troops. Protein-rich foods are good sources of L-lysine.

Watch out for foods high in L- Arginine. This amino acid will betray your Immunity Army by providing support for the foreign forces. Say no to chocolate, almonds and walnuts – all high in L-Arginine, and say yes to foods like soybeans, spinach and lentils which are low in L-Arginine and high in L-lysine. Finding the proper balance of these two amino acids is essential in wiping out the Herpes Simplex viruses.

Discover the wonders of colloidal silver! Extensively used to treat maladies prior to the creation of antibiotics, colloidal silver is a bacteria killing machine that can be taken internally or applied directly to the sore outbreaks. Once I had a wart that wouldn’t go away. I used colloidal silver on it for two days, it disappeared and I haven’t seen a sign of it since! It is important to note that colloidal silver doesn’t discriminate and it will destroy your good bacteria as well as the bad, so be sure to reinforce your system with probiotics. I recommend taking Acidophilus in pill form because other methods aren’t as strong and you want to be certain you’re getting enough.

Also, the use of topical oils can be used on outbreaks until the virus is defeated. Essential oils such as lavender oil and lemon balm are highly effective in soothing Herpes outbreaks and will work well until your Immunity Army ousts the viral invaders. Simply dab a bit of the oil directly onto your sores using a cotton swab and experience instant relief.

Taking this multi-pronged approach and fighting viral infections from every angle is your Immunity Army’s best bet in conquering foreign invaders. You can triumph over Herpes Simplex viruses, all it takes is a little internal biological warfare. Go. Fight. Win!

AYURVEDA AND SKIN CARE

An occasional attack of dry skin, rash or pimples – although frustrating - is a normal part of the flux of life. As the temperatures change, so does our skin’s constitution. As hormone levels rise and fall in the course of a month and as our diet and activity vary from day to day, the subtle balance of the body chemistry naturally shifts as well, creating shifts in our mood and even changes in our physical appearance.

Ayurveda recognizes these subtle imbalances and gives us the tools to correct them before they are out of control or turn into a full-blown disease. To be sure, imbalance does not necessarily mean disease, we can be quite healthy and still experience symptoms of imbalance. However, perpetual imbalance can lead to disease if it is not corrected in its early stages.

Ayurveda supports the belief that skin and health problems are affected or caused by our behavior. “Undigested” emotions, tension, and stress, can create hormonal imbalance and weaken the immune system. We now know common stressors are leading factors of body toxins and of skin disease. For example, psoriasis is exacerbated by worry and anxiety; acne/ rosacea, by anger and frustration; eczema, by a variety of stresses, depending upon the person’s constitution; and cystic acne, by depression, “holding on” to upsets, and emotional attachments in general. Other significant factors in skin disorders include the overconsumption of refined, canned, and processed foods like sugar, sweets, chocolate, fatty and fried foods, salt, seafood, and red meat. Consuming too many processed foods can result in digestive disorders and poor elimination (constipation). Lack of exercise and rest; and improper external cleansing and skin care will further create skin and health problems.

Of course, we all seek external remedies for the most common skin problems as soon as they develop. But please be aware, even a topical ointment or detoxification treatment is only a temporary remedy. If you continue with unhealthy lifestyle choices, new toxins will soon appear.

One of Ayurveda’s fundamental concepts is that health and disease are holistic-that is, whatever happens in one part of the body happens to the whole body. There are no isolated health problems. Any physical or psychological symptom of imbalance indicates an imbalance in the body-mind unit. Keep this holistic picture in mind as you look to remedy common skin problems with ointments and expensive treatments and try to treat the whole person you are – your emotions, your diet, your lifestyle choices – not just your face.

Using Yantra in Ayurvedic Herbalism

Yantra simply means ‘device’ in Sanskrit, and similar to devices like radios that tune into certain frequencies, yantras both tune into and amplify very specific vibrations that are salubrious to our herbal intentions. How does this spell healing to the Ayurvedic practitioner and their client? There are many reasons but here are some to ponder.

Yantra - Good for the Herbs
The Yantra is considered to be a geometrical equivalent of a mantra, and so it is about generating or modulating vibrational energy. Since the Yantra is more static, the vibration is steady, like a standing wave ‘trapped’ or ‘channeled’ by boundaries and filters. It also tends to be precise more often than a mantra. This particular vibration enhances the power of the herbs; it is like having a Gyoto monk or a Kashi pujari personally attending the herbs and continuously chanting empowering mantras. In fact, when using mantras to empower herbs, I have found that first directing the mantra through a yantra seems to focus the power of my sankalpa (intention). As Vamadeva points out, it creates a pattern in the herbs that will more effectively hold mantras.

Because a properly made Yantra invokes a pure, non-vitiated vibration, it activates the pure activities of an herb. For instance, Ashwagandha will create more Ojas than Kapha when used with a Yantra because Ojas can be seen to be the pure form of Kapha. The same goes for Prana and Tejas. The right yantra can also make herbs more Sattvic, while another yantra, say of a Goddess like Kranti, can make the herbs Rajasic. The choices of the herbalist are not “good or bad”, but rather about which energies are preferable: sometimes it is Rajas or Tamas.

Yantra - Enhances Practitioner Herb Wisdom
The Yantra is an archetypal symbol that can trigger the ability to innately know what an herb is good for and if it is good for you. It has this power because by looking at it, certain energetic structures in our subtle bodies are activated that allow a direct link to an intuitive knowledge of the herb. In other words, when you look at a jar of herbs on which a yantra is placed, your eyes read the text under the label or visually inspect the herbs, but your third eye reads the yantra, and gets to the codes to open up a part of you that can hear what the medicine is saying. Of course, only a great Vaidya Yogi can fully do this, but I am sure it happens subtley for some and subliminally for others. Tradition is that the same exact yantra actually exists inside of us, in the patterns of certain inter-chakra nadi networks within the within.

If we are lucky and skillful, a Yantra can be programmed, or requested, to gather and hold our accumulated collective efforts, thereby building the Prana of the remedy, the clinic, or the vaidya. Of course, any logo can do this, but to the extent that the yantra carries and promotes a special Shakti, it enhances above any other logos of our enterprises.

Utilizing Yantra
Respect is the key to correct use of a yantra as it is the mansion of a particular goddess embodying a cosmic principle. Since the moon significantly helps to govern the Soma in the herbs, I often will place a large Sri Yantra engraved on a Silver, Copper or Gold plate on top of the herbs and place this overnight out in the light of the full moon or during some other auspicious muhurta (moment). The Yantra can also be placed on the herb jar label. Yantras are more powerful when engraved in metal, so in India I once commissioned an artist to engrave the Sri Yantra in the metal tops of my herb jars. They were beautiful and I feel the Goddesses who empower herbs appreciate beauty and are more likely to take up residence in herbal practices and apothecaries that embrace and radiate beauty. Well made and skillfully used Yantras can promote this beauty.

It is best to practice Yantras within the whole of the tradition to fully utilize its synergy; it will not thrive when torn from its Vedic roots. Good results can be generated with the judicial use of these mystic diagrams, but like any Vedic science, the use of Yantras is best learned directly from the Yantra and from an experienced expert, and not from mere written words. In fact, to be assured that I have a great expert on my side who will rectify my mistakes and lack of skill, I almost always use Yantras that I have personally immersed into the Ganga to invoke her Divine blessings. As Ayur, the continuity aspect of consciousness, is a hologram, Yantra helps us reflect That.

by Prashanti De Jager

Ayurveda Skincare

Listed below are external remedies for the most common skin problems. (Several of them are the contribution of Dr. Kirit Pandya, one of India’s foremost Ayurvedic physicians specializing in skin disease.) But please be aware, even a topical ointment or detoxification treatment is only a temporary remedy. If you continue with unhealthy lifestyle choices, new toxins will soon appear.

One of Ayurveda’s fundamental concepts is that health and disease are holistic-that is, whatever happens in one part of the body happens to the whole body. There are no isolated health problems. Any physical or psychological symptom of imbalance indicates an imbalance in the body-mind unit. Keep this holistic picture in mind as you look over the common skin problems below.

FROWN LINES and FOREHEAD LINES

Imbalance: Vata & Pitta. (The habit of frowning will produce lines even when there is no imbalance.)
Aggravated by: Anxiety, worry, excessive dehydration, too much sugar or protein, habitual frowning, alcohol-based astringents, excessive use oflemon, tomato, or cucumber juice.
Treatment:
• Mix 3 drops Bindi or Tej Vata essential oil in water and use as a daily mist to hydrate.
• Make a hydrating massage oil using a base of apricot kernel, avocado, sesame or almond oil + 2 drops each of sandalwood and geranium + 1 drop each of lemon and cardamom. With your fingers, massage the oil on forehead using a horizontal stroke.
• Do daily facial exercise: Alternately stretch and tighten forehead muscles; hold and release 3 times.
• Twice weekly, make a firming herbal mask using a paste of 1 tsp cornstarch or potato starch + 2 tsp aloe vera juice or egg white. Apply mask and lie down for 30-40 minutes. Cleanse, nourish, and moisturize as usual.
• Weekly, do an exfoliating enzyme mask: Apply pineapple or papaya pulp to face and lie down for 10 minutes. Cleanse, nourish, and moisturize as usual.

PREMATURE WRINKLES

Imbalance: Vata & Pitta.
Aggravated by: Dryness (less oil), dehydration (less water), stress, sun, wind, extreme temperatures, excessive exercise, travel, alcohol, coffee, tobacco, sweets, spicy foods, hot or cold water, sudden weight loss, water pills, hormone medication, diabetes, lack of purpose, lack of loving relationships, hereditary factors.
Treatment:
• Twice weekly, do a facial mask using a paste of 1 Tbsp sandalwood powder + 1 drop camphor oil + 3-4 drops lotus oil + 2 tsp water. With ring finger, gently massage a few drops of face oil made with sandalwood + rose oil directly under eyes for protection, then apply paste to rest of face. Cover eyes with wet cotton pads dipped in rosewater and lie down for 10-15 minutes. Cleanse, nourish, and moisturize as usual.
• Make a decoction of 1 Tbsp dry geranium in ?4 cup water, then apply to face using a cotton ball.
• Do natural face-lift and face exercises
• Supplements: Take recommended daily dosage of vitamin E and evening primrose oil capsules. Drink 6-8 glasses of water daily.

CROW’S-FEET, DRY EYES, AND EYE STRAIN

Imbalance: Pitta.
Aggravated by: Age, stress, worry, insomnia, alcohol, dehydration, squinting.
Treatment:
• Avoid chemical makeup removers and heavy eye creams. Use cotton dipped in plain vegetable oil to remove eye makeup.
• Wear sunglasses in daylight and avoid reading in the dark. Never look directly at sun.
• Twice daily, pinch the skin between your eyebrows, starting at the bridge of the nose and moving outward. Repeat 3-4 times.

DARK UNDER EYE CIRCLES
Imbalance: Brown circles: Vata; green-gray circles: Pitta.
Aggravated by: Anemia, ill health, lack of sleep, poor circulation, anxiety; hormonal imbalance, menstrual disorders, too many fried, frozen, and canned foods, beans, peanuts, salads.
Treatment:
• Lie down on slant board with feet raised for 5-10 minutes.
• Soak cotton pads in cold milk, rosewater, fig juice, or crushed mint juice, and place over closed eyes for 5-10 minutes.
• Apply crushed mint leaves around eyes for 5-10 minutes.
• Before bed, gently massage around eyes with saffron or almond oil
• Do daily blinking and palming exercises
• Supplements:Take 2-4 gms ashwangandha, shatavari, or ginseng herbal tablets or powder before lunch and dinner.

PUFFY EYES

Imbalance: Kapha.
Aggravated by: Hypertension, liver and kidney problems, poor elimination, low digestive fire, water retention, lack of sleep, hormonal changes.
Treatment:
• Make eyepads using either black tea bags soaked in warm water, cotton puffs dipped in witch hazel or celeryjuice, or gauze squares stuffed with 1 tsp grated raw potato. Place on closed eyes for 20 minutes.
• With your ring finger, press gently underneath the eye one point at a time from the inside corner to the outside corner to help drain the lymphatic fluids.
• Supplements: Take 1 tsp triphala every night; take 1,000 mg vitamin C, and eat black raisins and figs every day.

DRY, LINED, OR CRACKED LIPS

Imbalance: Vata.
Aggravated by: Smoking, drugs, cold, dryness, dehydration, age, excessive talking, licking lips. (Tradition states vertical lines above lip indicate unfulfilled sexual desire.)
Treatment:
• As often as you like, apply vitamin E oil, unsalted butter, or ghee directly to lips. Or, use a mixture of 5 drops each rose and sandalwood oil in 1 oz avocado oil.
• Melt in a double boiler 9 tsp lanolin + 1 tsp castor oil. Remove from heat, add 3-5 drops rose oil, and let it solidify. Apply over lipstick to seal, moisturize, and add gloss.
• Massage lips nightly with 1 oz sesame oil + 2-3 drops glycerin
• Take a mouthful of water and slosh around the inside of the lip area for 1 minute. I

Ayurvedic overview for Acne and Rosacea – part II

The word Ayurveda translates to “the science of life” (Ayru – life and Veda – science). Ayurveda has brought true health and wellness to millions of individuals throughout the ages with simple changes in daily living practices. Incorporating just a few of these proven methods into your lifestyle can bring about radical changes in your life.

It is currently considered a form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) within the United States of America, but this ancient art of healing has been practiced continuously for over 5,000 years.

That said, there are some specific treatments that many recognize as effective treatments for skin conditions. For starters, regardless of the skin condition, Ayurvedic practitioners suggest staying hydrated. Ayurvedic practitioners believe that water helps to naturally stabilize dry or oily skin. Drinking enough water also helps prevent the loss of moisture through the skin, which helps to promote overall wellness.

Ayurveda also recommends adhering to a daily regimen for proper skin care, including the use of a natural soap and the use of natural skin moisturizers. This is true whether a person has naturally dry skin or suffers from a more serious condition such as psoriasis. The key is to make sure that the moisturizer is, in fact, natural, containing only substances such as aloe vera—a natural antibiotic that many believe is particularly helpful in the treatment of many skin conditions. Unfortunately, many commercially available moisturizers contain preservatives and other chemicals, and do not fully absorb into the skin, instead remaining on the surface and sometimes clogging pores as a result.

In addition to proper hydration and skin care, Ayurvedic medicine has identified three natural supplements that appear to help treat a wide range of skin conditions—neem, haemafine syrup and khadir. All three of these are widely prescribed to treat acne, psoriasis, and eczema, although many believe they can be used to treat any skin condition. The tree stem, root, and bark of neem, a large evergreen tree, have antibacterial properties. It is used in supplement form to treat skin conditions. In addition, many Ayurvedic soaps contain neem extract. Haemafine syrup is a natural solution made up of more than a dozen herbs. It is used as a remedy for all types of skin diseases through its natural blood purification properties. Khadir, also known as the acacia catechu herb, is another natural blood purifier used to treat skin conditions.

Besides supplements, some Ayurvedic sources also suggest that a person with a skin condition receive an abhyanga, a traditional Ayurvedic massage that uses herbalized oils to draw toxins out through the skin.

Is Ayurveda Safe?

Ayurvedic practitioners argue that their treatments have fewer side effects than prescription drugs and other traditional medical therapies, since Ayurveda is a completely natural approach. However, certain treatments, such as herbal supplements, should be taken with caution, since they can interact with other medications or even produce side effects such as rises in blood pressure. So as with any new medical treatment, consult your doctor prior to beginning any Ayurvedic therapies. This is especially true for people with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, or for women who are pregnant.