Links in Article Author’s Note
eggs, dairy food, refined, chemicalised
(This material is excerpted from my book
Chronic Intestinal Stagnation and so if you see any references to other
Ginger Compress Method 1 chapters etc. you will know why. It has
Ingredients method 1 some repetition with what I have already
placed here, which is now at the end of
Preliminaries method 1
the document. I have not yet discussed
Instructions method 1 Chronic Intestinal Stagnation [CIS],
No. of Treatment Times which is the main subject of the book,
Ginger Compress Method 2 “The End of Medicine”. Nevertheless,
Ingredients method 2 anyone who has been living in the
Instructions method 2 modern world eating the”meat and sugar”
can be certain they have developed
Activity of the Ginger Compress CIS, so what follows is information of
During Treatment
singular significance for everybody.)
Contra-indications
Possible hindrances to doing the Ginger
THE GINGER COMPRESS
Compress
First Chronic Intestinal Stagnation [CIS}
Secondly
If we established beyond
Thirdly reasonable doubt we do have chronic
Five Transformation Theory - Emotions intestinal stagnation, then we may want
Underlying Traumas to enquire as to what we can do to aid
Trauma Suggestions our intestines in healing themselves.
Additional Aids From what has already been written it
Additional Aids Massage should be fairly clear we first need to
Additional Aids Exercise 1 begin by changing our way of eating
Additional Aids Tai Chi & Yoga to one based on eating cooked whole
About the Author grains and vegetables. However, on
The End of Medicine the physical level, changing our way of
eating is not enough. It is often assumed,
or, it appears to be the assumption in
macrobiotic literature, that we need but
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Next Page Previous Page Return to Page 1
change our daily staple foods from meat,
foods etc. to whole grains and vegetables
and our intestinal function will take care
of itself. And, in many instances, when
people begin eating cooked whole grains
and vegetables according to macrobiotic
principles, one of the first changes
noticed is a considerable, often dramatic
improvement in bowel movement.
However, the consumption
of these foods on a regular basis as
staple foods does not allow for making
any real inroads on breaking down the
chronic intestinal stagnation, the toxic
mucus build-up in the intestinal walls.
The chronic intestinal stagnation has, as
already been suggested, been building
up over the entire life of the individuals
living in the modern culture eating the
modern diet, and as the years go by the
chronic intestinal stagnation becomes
extraordinarily impacted and ‘locked-in’
the intestinal walls. Thus we must do
something in addition to changing our way
of eating if we wish to get rid of the mucus
stagnation in the walls of our intestines.
I must avow I am not the first
person in the history of humanity to
recognise the large intestine is the single
most critical organ to address if we wish
Page 1 of 11
to effect a true and deep healing occurring
in the body. Many, many treatments
have been devised over the years in an
attempt to remove this impacted mucus
material, including enemas, colonics,
clay treatments, herbal colon cleansing
programs, and fasts of innumerable kinds
and varieties. However, none of them
actually work, many are difficult to do, and
some are actually detrimental to do. For
example, I think colonics actually weaken
the walls of the intestines.
What I mean by saying none
of them actually work is that they do
not effect the dissolution of the mucus
stagnation in the walls of the intestines.
They are effective, by and large, in
sloughing off the mucus build-up in the
lumen of the intestines, but then so does
eating a diet based on cooked whole
grains and vegetables, due to the high
fibre content.
The most effective remedy of which
I know is probably several thousand years
old, and was probably devised at the
beginning of recorded history. I have also
heard it was thought up by a physician
of a Buddhist persuasion in 500 BC. No
matter, to the august and profoundly wise
gentleman or gentlewoman who first
first came up with the idea of the ginger
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compress, I offer my prayer of profound
gratitude.
So, after a long and necessary
preliminary discourse, we come to the
reason for writing this book:
The Ginger Compress: Method 1
Ingredients: Method 1
1. One gallon of water in a container with
a lid (tap water is fine).
2. 1/4 cup finely grated-by-hand fresh
unpeeled Ginger Root (non-organic is
fine) wrapped in a cheesecloth, or other
natural fibre cloth, to make a bag of
grated ginger.
3. 2 three feet long by 1 foot wide cotton
terry cloth towels.
4. I cotton bath towel.
5. I pair of thick rubber gloves.
Preliminaries: Method 1
Before proceeding, take the two
terry cloth towels and, singly, fold each
one in three-folds such that they cover
the area on your abdomen which goes
from the sternum of the rib cage to the
pelvic bone, and from one hip bone to the
other. Once you have done this, sew each
one along the loose edges so they are
prevented from falling open once you start
doing the treatment.
Next Page Previous Page Return to Page 1
Also, the treatment has to be
done on an empty stomach, either an
hour before you eat or two hours after
you eat. It can be done at any time of
day. However, a practical tip is to do the
first treatment just before you go to bed,
and once you have done it, leave all the
materials where they are. First thing in
the morning, reheat the ginger water
pot, making sure you do not actually boil
the water, and you can do the treatment
again. Thus, if you do it this way, you can
do two treatments using the same ginger
water .
Another point is that if you use a
gallon container, once you have followed
the instructions, the ginger water should
retain its heat long enough to do do
at least two treatments. If you want to
ensure the ginger water remains hot,
obtain a hot plate you can plug into an
electrical outlet near the place you choose
to do the treatment, and place the pot of
ginger water on it after you have made it.
Instructions: Method 1
Place the container of water on
the stove and bring the water to a boil.
Meanwhile, grate the unpeeled ginger
root using a fine tooth grater until you
have approximately a 1/4 cup; the easiest
Page 2 of 11
way to ensure you do not lose any ginger
juice is to drape the piece of cloth you are
using to wrap the ginger over a bowl and
grate the ginger onto the cloth in the bowl.
When you have grated enough
ginger, bring the four corners of the cloth
together to enclose the grated ginger, twirl
it to make a neck and wrap a rubber band
around the neck to hold it together. Any
overflow of ginger juice will then gather in
the bottom of the bowl.
By now the water in the pot will be
near to boiling; let it boil. Then, and this
the most important point, once the water
has boiled, switch your heat source off
and let the water settle before you take
the bag of grated ginger, squeeze the
excess juice into the hot water, throw the
bag in the pot, and if there is any ginger
juice in the bowl, pour that in too.Then
place the two folded and sewn-up terry
cloth towels in the pot of hot ginger water
and let them soak for a minute or two,
with the lid on the container. You are now
ready to do the compress.
Place an old blanket or sheet on
your couch, floor or bed, wherever you
choose to do the compress and set up the
pot of ginger water with the two terry cloth
towels (I will refer to these two towels as
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the ginger towels from now on in the on your lap, to keep the heat in.
description) in it on some newspapers
After two to four minutes the hot
within easy reach of where you lie
ginger towel will start to cool down. Then,
down. Lie on your back (do not use
lift the dry bath towel covering the ginger
plastic in any shape or form) on the
towel, remove the ginger towel, leaving
sheet on the couch, bed or floor,
the dry bath towel covering the abdomen
expose the skin of your abdomen, with
to keep it warm. Remove the lid from the
the bath towel, also folded so it can
ginger water container, replace the wet,
cover your abdomen, placed on your
cool ginger towel and remove the second
lap.
ginger towel which has been in the
Then, with the rubber gloves on, container while you used the first ginger
remove the lid of the pot, place it on towel, thoroughly wring the excess ginger
the floor, and pick up one of the ginger water out of it back into the container,
towels in the pot (if you are lying on the replace the lid and repeat the procedure
floor you will need to sit up to do this), as for the first ginger towel. Alternate
wring out the the excess liquid back the two towels for half-an-hour. This
into the ginger water in the pot, then constitutes one treatment.
replace the lid to keep the heat in.
No. of Treatment Times
Taking the wrung out ginger
I recommend the compress is
towel, open it up so it is flat (it will
done 64 times, two to four times a week;
remain folded if you have sewn the
this is one round of compresses, and this
loose edges together), lie down if you
may not, and is generally not, enough to
have had to sit up to do the preceding,
complete the job. If you determine your
and raise and lower the ginger towel
intestines need more work, I suggest
over the skin of the abdomen, close
you wait four to six weeks and then do
to but not actually touching the skin to
another round of 64 compresses. And you
begin with, until you can take it as hot
may need to do two or three more rounds
as you can stand it leaving it directly
after that! The reason it takes so many
on the skin. After you have placed the
compresses is due to the fact the chronic
hot ginger towel on the skin, cover it
intestinal stagnation has developed over
with the bath towel that has been lying
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many, many years, even decades. The
older we are when we find out we need
we have chronic intestinal stagnation,
the longer it has been going on. And the
longer it has been going on, the more
tenaciously hardened and impacted it is
in our intestinal walls, therefore the more
ginger compresses we will have to do,
more consistently and perseveringly, in
order for the compresses to have their
desired effect.
I also recommend that once we
are satisfied our intestines are back in
shape again, it is a good idea to do one
half-round of compresses regularly every
year. With regard to children, it is perhaps
better to wait until they are seven years
old before doing the ginger compresses.
Here is another method for doing
the ginger compress, which I learnt from
David Jackson, a macrobiotic teacher and
counsellor living in Arizona, who learnt it
from his teacher, Roy Steevensz.
The Ginger Compress: Method 2
Ingredients: Method 2
1 gallon container (thick sides) of boiled
water.
1/4 cup freshly grated unpeeled ginger
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root (does not have to be organic) in a
cloth bag.
2 cotton towels, folded to cover the
abdomen from the sternum to the
pelvic bone and from one hip to the
other.
1 dry towel.
2 wooden bowls about 10 inches
diameter.
Instructions: Method 2
The bag of ginger is squeezed
to get the ginger juice into the pot of
boiled water (do not boil the ginger),
right after you have boiled the water,
and then the bag of ginger is placed in
the hot water.
David’s method is different from
those in the books where he has two
of the wooden bowls you can buy at
oriental stores, the bowls being the
ones made of interwoven strips of
wood. These are about 8-10 inches
in diameter. What you do is place one
of the folded towels between these
bowls and immerse it in the ginger
water so that the towel gets heated
and because you are holding the towel
between the bowls you do not have to
put your hands in the water.
Then you put the other dry towel
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against the skin of the abdomen, and,
after immersing the two bowls with the
other towel placed between them in the
hot ginger water, you lift the bowls out
of the water, and squeeze them firmly
together to squeeze the excess ginger
water from out of the towel. Then you take
one bowl off the top of the ginger towel
and place it underneath the other bowl,
and place the hot ginger towel on top of
the dry towel on the skin of the abdomen
(you are doing the compress lying back
against some pillows against a couch
or wall).Then you cover that towel with
another dry bath towel, also folded.
The heat and ginger chi penetrates
through the dry towel into the abdomen,
and you can feel your skin heating up.
After a few minutes, as you feel the
heat cooling down, you take off the top
covering towel, and flip over the two
towels on the abdomen so that the towel
that has been recently soaked in the
ginger water is now directly on the skin.
You then place the one that was originally
on the skin between the two bowls, while
covering the one on your abdomen with
the dry towel. You then immerse the two
bowls with the towel inserted between
them in the hot ginger water, take them
out, squeeze the excess liquid out, and
lifting off the covering towel, place the
Page 4 of 11
hot ginger towel on top of the one still on
the skin, and cover them both with the
covering towel. Then, once you feel the
towel against the skin cooling off, you
flip the towels over so that the recently
heated towel is directly on the skin and
proceed to take the top towel and place
it between the two bowls, having placed
the covering towel on top of the ginger
towel on the abdomen, and immerse the
bowls in the hot ginger water, etc. You go
through this procedure for half an hour.
If you have a gallon pot with thick sides,
then the ginger water should easily retain
enough heat for half an hour.
This method ensures that you have
constant heat on the skin throughout the
course of the half hour treatment
Activity of the Ginger Compress
The ginger compress works
because of the etheric or ‘chi’ activities
of the heat and the ginger root. From the
perspective of yin-yang theory, the ginger
root has strong yang activity by virtue of
its “rootness”. This more yang activity
means the etheric activity of the ginger
has a strong, downward penetrating
movement. When you grate the ginger
you will notice how the aroma of ginger
powerfully fills the room, attesting to a
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strong dispersing, expansive movement
of chi. The reason for this is the ginger
root grows sideways, meaning it is
more influenced by yin activity than, say
a burdock or carrot root, and this yin
dispersing activity is further enhanced
by finely grating the ginger. My feeling is
that by making the compress in this way,
laying the towel soaked in this etheric
activity, thereby harnessing it, on the
abdomen while lying on our back, the
towel focuses these etheric forces on the
abdominal cavity in which the intestines
lie, and they penetrate into the tissues by
means of the root activity and break up
the mucus stagnations encountered in the
tissues by means of the strong dispersive
activity. Furthermore, the etheric forces of
the ginger stimulate the etheric, formative
forces of the intestines, thus stimulating
their proper activity.
The heat activity of the compress
stimulates the blood and tissue circulation
in the area being treated which then
facilitates the bearing of the dispersed
toxins away to be excreted.
The combination of these three
etheric or ‘chi’ activities means the
tissues of the walls of the intestine
begin to receive clean, revitalized blood
(if we have also changed our way of
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eating, and it has to emphasised the
ginger compress is a waste of time if
we do not) for the first time in years and
decades, and they become revitalized,
leading to regeneration of the tissues and
restoration of their proper, harmonious
function.
During Treatment
As a result of doing the treatment
mucus deposits are gradually dissolved
and toxins flushed into the bloodstream
and what happens overtly then will
depend on many factors. All I will say
here, and more is be said on this subject
in the chapter “Macrobiotic Healing” in
my book “The End of Medicine”, is the
body may show signs of detoxification
or may show no overt signs of cleansing
other than passive weight loss, increased
urination and bowel movement and some
fatigue. More active signs of cleansing
include nasal mucus discharge, sore
throat, coughing and sneezing, fever and
flu-like symptoms, temporary constipation
and /or diarrhoea, various aches and
pains, skin eruptions on various parts
of the body, and headaches. If they are
accompanied with healthy appetite,
normal sleep patterns, generally okay
vitality and no nausea, these signs
indicate the healing process is going well.
Page 5 of 11
If you find these symptoms to be of some
concern, then it is important to ask me
via e-mail about what these symptoms
mean and what you need to do for them,
if anything.
Contra-indications
The ginger compress on the
abdomen should not be done in the
following instances:
• Pregnancy and Breast Feeding.
• Abdominal inflammation, appendicitis
and pneumonia.
• On the brain, on infant babies, and in
cases when a high fever is running.
• Overt cancers of the abdominal
region, although they may safely be
done on cancers in other parts of the
body.
In macrobiotic books which
discuss the ginger compress, it is always
written “Special considerations for cancer
patients...” and it goes on to talk about
the Taro Potato Plaster. The reason it
is mentioned cancer patients should
not do a ginger compress for more than
five minutes on a cancer is because it
is thought the stimulation of the blood
supply caused by the compress means
that if there is a tumor in the region
being treated then the increased blood
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circulation will cause the cancer to grow.
However, this is only true if the
blood is still toxic. When a person starts
the macrobiotic diet, then in ten days the
blood plasma (the fluid in which the
blood circulates) is renewed, in 30-60
days all the white blood cells will be
newly created, and in 120 days all the
red blood cells will be newly created.
Thus, theoretically, if one does the ginger
compresses beginning four months after
starting the dietary practice, then the
increasing blood flow means clean, fresh
blood will be circulating more vigorously.
The tumour will then be receiving this
fresh, clean blood which in turn means
the cancer will dissolve faster. However,
to act on the side of caution, if a person
has cancer of the colon or some other
cancer of the abdominal region, it is
perhaps wiser to wait until the dietary
practice has been done for one year
before embarking on the regimen of
ginger compresses.
I have also heard it said this
regimen of two-four compresses a week
brings too much heat to the organism.
However, doing it four times a week
means we are applying heat to the
abdomen a total of two hours out of the
168 hours of the week, which comes to
Next Page Previous Page Return to Page 1
1.19% of the week. Furthermore, if one
is to classify all diseases of humanity into
two groups: whether they are diseases of
two much heat, or diseases of too much
cold, in the body, then it turns out that all
degenerative illnesses are diseases of too
much cold.
Two problems may become evident
during the course of doing the treatments.
One is the skin of the abdomen takes
on a darkened, brown-red/yellow hue,
and this will clear up after the regimen
has been completed. The other is the
possibility of detoxifying too rapidly,
meaning the symptoms of discharge
may become overwhelming. In this case
simply adjust the pattern of treatment by
stopping them temporarily for a few days
or a week or two. The key point about the
regimen of 64 compresses is to do them;
whether this takes 16 weeks, 20 weeks or
24 weeks is immaterial; what is required
is to get the regimen done perseveringly
on a relatively consistent basis.
Possible hindrances to doing the
Ginger Compress
I have noticed over the course
of 14 years of counselling thousands
of individuals there is a great deal of
resistance to actually doing them. I
Page 6 of 11
estimate perhaps 30% of the people
I counsel actually do the two or three
rounds of compresses necessary to
completely dissolve and break up the
chronic intestinal stagnation.
Of course, people say things like
they do not have the time, or it’s too
complicated, or whatever. However, the
reasons are, I feel, a lot deeper.
First, the intestines are those
organs of the body that have to with the
expression of the activities of the will
forces of the soul; will forces have to do
with carrying out actions; if the intestines
are weak and stagnated, then if we are
asked to do something which requires a
significant and radical change in any one
of our habitual ways of doing any activity,
we find it incredibly difficult to do so. The
ginger compress regimen requires we
take into account our necessity for doing
them and scheduling the time to do them
during the course of the week. If we do
not do this, then we will have difficulty in
getting them done.
Secondly, the large intestines and
lungs correspond to our forebrain; our
forebrain is the sense-organ instrument
for the thinking activity of the soul; thus,
if we have chronic intestinal stagnation,
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we also have toxic mucus build-up in
our lungs and our forebrain. In regard
of thinking, this means our thinking
is stuck, moulded in the the tried and
true, habitual, received learning we
have picked up at school, college, in
church, from our family and through the
newspapers and other mass media and
if we are to break through the stagnant,
arid, destructive, techno-material thinking
of modern culture, we have to break up
this stagnation in the forebrain while at
the same time undertaking the strenuous
re-education and quest for self-knowledge
necessary for true healing to occur.
The ginger compress regimen on the
intestines is necessary to do if we are to
achieve this, and this is an uncomfortable
prospect, at least sub-consciously.
Thirdly, and probably the most
difficult of the three impediments to
overcome has to to with our emotional
life. In the course of counseling I have
come across a remarkable phenomenon
of human life, which is that when we
experience a deeply wounding event
during the course of childhood and early
adulthood, like being sexually abused,
or physically or emotionally beaten
down, the actual events which occasion
these traumas and abuses are literally
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‘recorded’ in the mucus stagnation, in any
organ or tissue of the body where they
happen to have built up. This is to say,
the mucus stagnation appears to act as
a ‘medium’ on or in which the event/s in
question are ‘holographically’ imprinted.
This means that no matter how well we
succeed in suppressing our memory of
these events, they are literally playing out
continuously, like an endless tape-reel, for
as long as the mucus stagnation remains
in the body.
Thus, there is not only the physical
consequence of increasing toxicity of the
body resulting from the build of chronic
mucus stagnation, which, as I have
shown, starts with the large and small
intestine, and because of these organs
relationships as paired complementary
organs with the lungs and heart, in those
organs too. And later, as a consequence
of the Five Transformation Theory, with
the kidneys/bladder, and liver/gall bladder.
And because the kidneys/bladder rules
the sexual organs, mucus stagnation also
builds up there.
There is also the coincidental
process, because of the relationship of
these organs to the emotions, as stated
in the Five Transformation Theory, of
the increasing physical toxicity of the
Page 7 of 11
body being accompanied with increasing
emotional toxicity, the nature of the
emotion hinging on which organ or organs
the mucus stagnation is on which the
events occasioning these traumas have
been ‘recorded’.
Five Transformation Theory - Emotions
The relationships of the more
destructive emotions with the organs as
stated in the Five Transformation Theory
are as follows:
• Liver/Gall Bladder - frustration,
irritability, impatience and anger.
• Kidney/Bladder - fear, anxiety, loss of
confidence and self-esteem.
• Lungs - melancholy and sadness,
sense of loss.
• Large Intestine - depression, loss of
enthusiasm, ennui.
• Heart/Small Intestine - overly
excitable, nervousness, hysteria.
• Stomach/Spleen/Pancreas - doubt,
worry, skepticism, cynicism.
These emotional moods are, in the
person so afflicted, permanent and cannot
be explained by any current event going
on in their lives. They are, so to speak,
their mood of soul, and colors every
motivation, attitude, expression and way
of relating to themselves and the people
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in their lives and the world in which they
live.
They are permanent, that is, for as
long as the mucus stagnation is present
in which these emotional traumas are
imprinted. I must also point out these
‘permanent moods of soul’ are present
even if their have not been any emotional
traumas; however, it is probable that if
there have been emotional traumas, and
it is fairly evident that emotional, physical
and sexual abuse is endemic in modern
culture, the imprinting of the events
occasioning these traumas has the effect
of accentuating these moods of soul to
a deeper extent than in those individuals
who have been fortunate enough not
to have been emotionally, physically or
sexually abused in their childhood and
early adulthood.
Underlying Traumas
When we do the ginger
compresses on our abdomen, then the
dissolution of the mucus stagnations
will cause the ‘holographically imprinted
event’ to be released from its entrapment
in the mucus stagnations, as they are
dissolving, and these events will surface
into our consciousness and we will
have to deal with them psychologically.
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It is probable, as it has been in several
instances in people with whom I have
been working, that when these events
surface into day consciousness, it is
the first time they become aware that
these events have indeed occurred,
because they did such a effective job of
suppressing their memory of these events
when they first occurred.
This is, in many instances, a
traumatic experience, occasioning
much pain and suffering. Now, I feel
when a person is asked to do the ginger
compresses, they know, sub-consciously,
the dissolving of the mucus stagnations
brought about by doing the ginger
compresses is going to occasion the
release of the suppression of the events,
and since the pain and trauma associated
with them is so profound, they would
rather not have to deal with it.
This is understandable. However,
any healing that is worthy of the name
is necessarily accompanied with pain
and suffering. If we go through a healing
which leads to a resolution of our
symptoms which is not accompanied
with pain and suffering, both physical and
psychological, then we can be assured
the healing is superficial and will not bring
about the profound transformation of
Page 8 of 11
our being, in body, soul and spirit, which
is the healing I am discussing in this
book. Therefore, the regimen of ginger
compresses is necessary for us to carry
out, anyway, if we wish to bring about a
true and deep healing of ourselves and
the world.
Trauma Suggestions
As to what I feel we need to do
if we ‘find out’ we have been physically,
emotionally or sexually abused in
childhood and early adulthood, I offer the
following suggestions:
• 1. No blame. I do not feel that any
one is helped if we go about blaming
the perpetrators of these traumas,
no matter how justified we may feel
in blaming them. Furthermore, any
idea of vengeance and redress simply
does not answer the questions posed
by these events and it leaves out of
account the most important fact of
human spiritual life. This is karma.
Karma is a profound spiritual reality
which is not taken into account at all in
their daily lives by people living today.
Now, karma is a vast subject and all
I will say here is karma means that
inexorably, ineluctably we will find we
have to make up to others, either in
this life time, or the subsequent life on
earth, in one way or another what we
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have done to them. This is to say, it is
not up to us to judge other people, for
our, or other peoples’, misdeeds, will
be atoned for through karma.
• 2. Forgiveness. We must dig deep in
our souls and find it possible to forgive
the individual/s involved for what they
have done, not as a cursory nod to the
idea of forgiveness, but as a profound
reality in our souls.
• 3. Find something about the event
or the individuals involved which is
beautiful and good, for it is rare for
any one individual or event to be
unredeemably evil.
• 4. This is probably the most difficult
suggestion to carry through, but is
probably the most important: ask
ourselves what is about us that
occasioned these events to take
place. What is it that we need to
work on psychologically-mentally,
emotionally, spiritually - so we can
truly digest the lessons to be learnt
from these events for ourselves.
• 5. Once we have digested all that
needs to be learnt, understood and
changed, forget about the events, for
time itself is a great healer.
Additional Aids
There are additional aids to
help breaking up the chronic mucus
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stagnation. The first is to make sure we
go for walks every day for at least half
to one hour. The act of walking serves
to do to an ‘internal massage’ on the
intestines; it is helpful to use the stairs
instead of the elevator or escalator, to
walk to the store rather than drive etc.
And the walking is most helpful if it is a
relaxed stroll around your neighborhood
or in the park, where the simple
enjoyment of the sights and sounds we
encounter is our aim rather than trying
to do any exercise.
Additional Aids - Massage
Massaging the intestines while
doing the compresses. While you are
lying down with the ginger towel on your
abdomen, using the extended index
and forefinger of both hands together,
press on the intestines beginning at
the ileo-cecal valve approximately two
inches to the left of the right hip bone,
and using a push and release motion
work your fingers up the right side of
your abdomen, across the abdomen to
the left, just above the navel, and then
down the left side to just above the
pelvic bone, moving in a spiral motion
further in from the path you worked so
that the massaging gradually works
toward the center of the abdomen.
Page 9 of 11
When you have completed one massage
in this way, start again from the beginning
and work you way to the center of the
abdomen. Do this two or three times
or so during the time you are doing the
compress. When you press down with
your fingers go as deep as you can, while
trying to keep the abdominal muscles
totally relaxed.
Additional Aids - Exercise 1
Another aid is the following
exercise. Stand straight, eyes looking
straight ahead, with your hands by your
sides in the middle of a room so you have
plenty of space. Then move your hands,
fingers extended, upward and outward
while raising yourself up on your toes and
taking a deep breath through your nose
so that the inbreathe goes to your lower
abdomen. Hold the position momentarily,
then slowly, simultaneously bring your
hands down past the hips and then
forward toward your front while bending
down into a ‘skiing’ position, tightening
your abdominal and buttock muscles
and as you bend while exhaling slowly
through your mouth, in order to complete
the exhalation by the time you end up in
the ‘skiing’ position. What I mean by the
‘skiing’ position is you end up on your
toes, bent at the waist with your buttocks
The Ginger Compress Kaare Bursell - kaareb@mac.com
close your ankles, your arms extended in and elimination of wastes are asked to
front of you with fingers extended forward, deal with the process of detoxification and
as if you were just about to push off down elimination which ensues when we begin a
a slope if you were wearing skis. What macrobiotic dietary practice as well as with
you should feel as you go through this the toxins generated by intense exercise
motion is a gathering and concentration regimens. This puts a heavy strain on
of ‘chi’ or etheric forces in the pit of your these organs, which are at best in a
abdomen. Do this exercise, on an empty weakened and fragile state when we start
stomach, three to five times, two to three the diet and the added load caused by the
times a week while you are doing the heavy exercise is going to make it a lot
more difficult for these organs to both do
ginger compress regimen.
their job of detoxification and elimination
Additional Aids - Tai Chi & Yoga while at the same time regenerating and
Tai Chi and Yoga are also revitalizing themselves.
beneficial. Any form of strenuous exercise
is not recommended during the first
year of changing over to a macrobiotic
dietary program or while doing the
ginger compress regimen. The reason is
during the early stages of being on the
macrobiotic dietary program the body
is detoxifying itself and the organs of
detoxification and elimination are active
in carrying out the dissolving and removal
of toxins. Now, when we do any form of
strenuous exercise, such as jogging, high
impact aerobics, weight-lifting etc., then
the metabolic rate increases, meaning
more waste metabolites of cellular
activity are being generated than when
our metabolism is functioning normally.
Therefore, the organs of detoxification
Next Page Previous Page Return to Page 1 Page 10 of 11
About the Author - Kaare Bursell
At the tender age of 15, the author
set out to discover the answers to two
questions – “What is disease?” and “What
does disease signify?” His quest began
in 1966 when he enrolled in the School
of Veterinary Medicine and Science at
the University of Liverpool. After 5 years
of study he then worked as a Veterinary
Clinician and Surgeon in large animal
practice for 8 years. This experience
did not answer the questions. In 1975
he began living, thinking and eating
according to macrobiotic principles and
philosophy, and as he did, the answers
to these questions began to become
clearer. In 1982, he discovered the work
of Rudolf Steiner, and as he began to
study his lecture cycles and books, the
answers became revealed. The End of
Medicine is the result of over 40 years of
study, experience, and learning working
with thousands of sick individuals from
all walks of life. The contents of the
book describe how and why illnesses
develop, what illness signifies, and makes
a distinction between illness, disease
and health. The crucial significance of
The Ginger Compress Kaare Bursell - kaareb@mac.com
kaareb@mac.com
the digestive processes of assimilation
and elimination in the onset of illnesses The End of Medicine
and recovery of health are described in By: Kaare Bursell
detail. The book thus fulfils the indication
given by Rudolf Steiner in a lecture, ISBN: 1-4363-6979-7 (Trade Paper-
given in 1923, where he says, “a modern back 6x9)
system of medicine must always take ISBN13: 978-1-4363-6979-4 (Trade
the metabolic system, that is to say the Paperback 6x9)
normal processes of digestion, as its
ISBN: 1-4363-6980-0 (Trade Hardback
point of departure, and starting from there
it must deduce how internal illnesses 6x9)
in the widest possible sense can arise ISBN13: 978-1-4363-6980-0 (Trade
from the metabolism”. In addition, the Hardback 6x9)
book contains instruction on how to do
self-diagnosis and then gives the reader, Pages : 145
speaking imaginatively, a pair of new legs, Book Format : Trade Book 6x9
a compass and a map. The reader who Subject : MEDICAL / Healing
is sufficiently inspired can then learn to
BODY, MIND & SPIRIT / Reference
use the “new pair of legs”, comprising a
change to a macrobiotic way of eating
and doing the ginger compress regimen
described, learning how to use “the
compass”, yin and yang theory, and use
“the map” contained in the latter chapters
to explore the new territory which opens
up before us as we do so.
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