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YOUR FIRST STEP:

PREPARING FOR YOUR JOURNEY





AYURVEDA: THE HIDDEN GEM IN EVERYONE’S CLOSET

"Ayurveda is the oldest medical system that we know of,” says Krishna Raju MD(Ayu). (He’s the brother of Dr. Jaya Ramanuja Raju, and co-directs Dr. Raju’s Institute of Ayurveda, in Hyderabad, India.) “Ayurveda is the mother of other medical systems, because it has influenced them. Even many modern drugs come from herbs that were first used in Ayurveda.” 

We don't know how old Ayurveda is. It could have started when people first developed language—or when the first doctor treated the first patient. It could have been passed down orally through many generations. All we know is that about five thousand years ago, when people invented writing, Ayurvedic experts wrote down instructions for how to prevent and cure diseases. Doctors still follow these medical texts today.

In some ways, Ayurveda is just the normal, natural way that people lived until the industrial revolution brought canned and frozen food, remote-control TV, and other things that drastically changed people's lifestyles.

Witness a typical family's life two hundred years ago: They worked their land by the sweat of their brow. (No need to go to the gym.) They ate fresh, organic food that they grew themselves. They breathed fresh, unpolluted air, and looked down on beautiful fields of open land.

In a lot of ways, Ayurveda is just going back to that healthier way of living. But it's based on doctors' texts that explain in detail how to cure mental and physical diseases, how to heal broken bones, and how to operate surgically in last-resort cases. So with Ayurveda, we're better off than even the robust farmer. We know exactly what to do to cure a cold, or to ease our anxiety and get a better night's sleep.

Sounds good, huh? I wonder, though, whether anyone is thinking, "Oh, fuddy-duddy! Thousands of years ago, people believed in superstition, not science. I bet Ayurveda is just an old wives tale."

If I could answer them, I'd say, "Well, was the Roman Coliseum an old wives' tale?" Scientists found out how those ancient concrete buildings can still remain standing after two thousand years. The Romans' secret? They mixed volcanic ash, volcanic rock, lime, and water.¹ Our modern concrete only lasts two hundred years, at most. So those ancient architects were way ahead of us in some ways.

Just because something's old, that doesn't mean it's backward. Like the Roman Coliseum, Ayurveda contains advanced knowledge that can help us today.

It can do a lot of things that modern medicine can't do—like cure most mental disorders. But modern medicine and Ayurveda are good buddies. They go well together, hand in hand. Modern medicine can do things that Ayurveda can't do, so we're lucky to have both these systems to keep us healthy.   



AYURVEDA OPENS YOU UP TO THE REAL YOU



Have you ever said, “I’m not myself today”? After you’ve been upset, have you ever said, “I was beside myself”? When you’re stressed—thrown out of balance—you get knocked out of your real self. That real self is peacefulness, happiness, bliss.

When you do any of the Ayurvedic techniques in this book, you move that much closer to being that real self that's been inside you all along. Ayurveda removes the dust, so the mirror can reflect a clear image.

And who is that real you that shows up when the smoke clears?

Chance are, when you popped out of your mother’s womb, you were healthy and happy. You were a blissful baby. But over the years, stuff happened. You went through childhood traumas. You ate a not-so-good diet. You breathed polluted air, drank chemical-laden water, and got bumped around by the normal stresses of life.

In this book, you'll learn how to get in touch with your "baby bliss"—the joy you had a long time ago. For example, you’ll find out which aromas to smell, what kind of music to listen to, which herbs to take, and what kind of exercise to do, to tap into that inner joy.  

You'll learn all the ways to gently coax your nervous system back into the happy state it was in when you were a smiling baby.

YOU'LL FEEL EMPOWERED TO GET WELL

You’re probably used to seeing a doctor and being told, “Take this medicine, and you’ll be better.” But when you follow the instructions in this book, you won’t be just a passive recipient of your medical care. You’ll take responsibility for your own health, and if you have a health care provider, you’ll work with her as a team. Ayurvedic practitioners usually prescribe herbal or mineral medicine, but more importantly, they’re the guiding light, the inspiration, for patients to make the changes they need to make.   

You might only need medicine to get well. But you may also need to make new choices about how you eat, exercise, sleep, and think. When you read this book, you'll be picking the experiences that will heal you. For example, you may start eating more of certain foods and less of others.

When you make these choices, you'll feel more empowered. When your will and determination are propelling you to get well, then what can stop you?



IT'S ALSO GOOD FOR YOUR POCKETBOOK

If you follow the plan in this book, you can save money. After some time, you’ll probably be cured, and then you won’t have to keep paying for things like counseling and mental health drugs for the rest of your life.

Also, Ayurvedic practitioners can spot trouble in your mind or body long before it sprouts into a full-blown disorder. So you can nip things in the bud, and save yourself from big medical bills.





EVEN IF YOU WERE ABUSED AS A CHILD, YOU CAN STILL GET WELL

Some of you may be thinking, “But I was a severely abused child. That’s why I have a mental disorder. How can I go back and change what happened many years ago?”

Well, you can't change your childhood; that's true. But have you heard the saying, “If you pull a chair by one leg, the other three legs will come along”? If you were abused as a child, or if you got brain trauma from psychedelic drugs, for example, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re destined to have a mental disorder. If you pull one leg of the chair—if you keep yourself physically strong, and clear out enough of your toxins—chances are the other three legs will come along. You’ll have good mental health.  ...

Dr. Raju reassures you: Even if you had a rough life—even if you were so beaten down that you got a mental disorder when you were young—you can still change your life now to tip the scales back into balance more.





HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO GET WELL?



"Generally, my patients see some improvement within a month," Dr. Jaya Ramanuja Raju says, "and then it takes one to ten years for them to recover." He adds that once people get well, they can prevent the disorder from coming back. They just have to live in a healthy way—follow the instructions he gives in this book.





HOW THIS PROGRAM CURES MENTAL DISORDERS



This book isn't going to teach you how to squelch your symptoms—quiet the voices, soften the depression, cope better with the pain. You're going to learn how to get rid of the whole disorder—kit and caboodle. It's like pulling a tree out by its roots.

But before we go get the pick and shovel, we need to know what those roots are, and where to find them.



Most Mental Disorders Are Just Infections



"It's surprising that so many people think mental disorders are incurable," says Dr. Krishna Raju. "When they get an infection—in their ear or stomach, for example—they expect that it will go away after a while. They'll be cured.

"A mental disorder is usually just another kind of infection: It's an infection of the parts of our body that perform mental functions. Just like germs can invade your throat and cause havoc there, foreign material can invade your nerve pathways and your brain, and make you sick." In this book, you'll find out what this foreign material is, how to remove it, and how to keep from ingesting it again.

To start off, can you visualize something with me? Let's imagine for a moment that you're a white china plate. Someone ate their lunch off you, and didn't wash the goop off. He left you on the kitchen counter, and now the food crumbs have dried, and they're sticking to you like glue. It's not going to be easy to get you clean again, is it?

This is what happens in our bodies. Dr. Jaya Ramanuja Raju explains: "Our bodies are designed to move waste matter out quickly and easily. But when we eat wrongly, or breathe unhealthy chemicals, for example, the waste often gets stuck inside. And when it builds up enough, it can cause mental disorders."

... Ever had a runny nose, or mucous in your eyes? Dr. Krishna Raju names other ways that waste can collect inside us: "Cysts, cataracts, abscesses, plaque on the teeth, excess cholesterol, and cirrhosis of the liver (from undigested fats)." He adds, "If your tongue has a thick, white coating, you have a good deal of toxins."

Scientists have spotted some of the waste that piles up enough to cause mental disorders. They examined the brains of living Alzheimer's patients, and found plaque there.² Dr. Krishna Raju says, "The plaque is toxic matter that the body could not get rid of. This waste traveled to the brain, and settled there." No wonder that the more plaque the patients had, the worse their memory was.

Scientists also found pileups in people who had autism.⁴ The autistic brains had more calcium than the healthy ones did. Dr. Krishna Raju says, "Like the Alzheimer's plaques, these calcium deposits are just toxic waste. If you remove these impurities, the autism can be cured."

Some dementia is already widely known to be curable. Say a woman got it from drinking too much alcohol. If she cuts down on her habit early enough, she might be cured. And if someone gets dementia from low thyroid, all they may have to do is heal their thyroid. People know how to cure these dementias because they know what's causing them, and they just remove the cause.

But many other dementias are curable, too. Just like with the alcohol and thyroid dementias, all you have to do is remove the cause, and the disorder will probably go away.



THE OLDER YOU GET, THE MORE BRILLIANT YOU CAN BECOME



Dr. Jaya Ramanuja Raju says, "Many people think that as we get older, our minds will naturally become more dull. That we'll become more forgetful, and won't be able to figure things out as easily as we used to.

"But this is not true. The only reason why people get Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia is that they've allowed their bodies to accumulate so many impurities, for so many years. This waste matter clogs up their mental machinery—like throwing a wrench into the moving parts of an engine.

"If you follow the procedures that I recommend, not only will you probably keep yourself safe from dementia, but you'll also probably get sharper and quicker as the years go by. With Ayurveda, you can clear out impurities that have been blocking your effectiveness since childhood. So you can even make your mind sharper than it was back when you were a youngster."



Mental Stress Can Pile Up, Too



Dr. Jaya Ramanuja says the toxic waste that causes mental disorders may not only be from food and other substances that people can't digest. People can tox-up even from mental stress.

"We digest our emotional experiences much like we digest our food," he says. We must know this subconsciously, because look at the way we talk: "When I give my coworkers genuine compliments, they just eat it up. " And when we cannot digest an experience, we say, "I can't stomach his temper tantrums," or "I have no stomach for scam calls."

"Everything we take into our mind and body is a kind of food," the doctor continues. If we don't digest our emotional and mental experiences, they stay in our bodies, just like the cholesterol that we ate in that cheeseburger we had for dinner.

For example, you may have a messy divorce, and build up stress by fuming about it for years. Or you might overtax your brain--work too many hours at the office. Dr. Jaya Ramanuja Raju says, "People can also build up toxic waste by using their minds the wrong way. For example, they may work at a job that isn't right for them. Or they may do things they know are wrong, and then feel guilty about it.

"When people don't digest their mental or emotional experiences, the leftover waste disturbs their nerves. The nerves then make the wrong chemicals. This can cause people to think so unclearly that they start hallucinating, for example, or they feel anxious all the time for no reason."

He adds that if you could look inside these people, you might see brain tissue that's become too soft or too hard. You might also spot brain cells that have lost their elasticity, or neurochemicals flowing in the wrong direction.

Dr. Krishna Raju says that if people get a big enough surge of emotional or physical stress, and they don't digest it properly, they can get a mental disorder immediately. But often, it takes months or years for these poisons to pile up enough.

How do toxins from things like a cheeseburger and financial angst gradually worm their way into us and push us over the edge?



It's Usually as Simple as a Clogged Drain



Every day, you pour stuff down your kitchen sink. But you only need to call a plumber when the waste has piled up enough to clog up the pipes, right? The same thing happens in our bodies. "Our bodies are full of channels," says Dr. Krishna Raju. He names some of them: "Our veins, pores, spinal cord, gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract, and call membranes."

This waste can wreck your plumbing in a bunch of ways. The doctor explains: "The toxic matter may flow through the right channels, but it will be flowing in the wrong direction. Or it may flow from the wrong channel. The flow could also be too little, or too much. Or the waste could block a channel completely—like when the fat in a man's arteries blocks the blood from going to his brain, and he dies of a stroke."

Like that, toxic waste can block many of your brain cells from communicating with each other. If enough brain cells get cut out of the loop, you will get a mental disorder.

How do the toxins do their nasty work? Dr. Krishna Raju explains, "When you don't digest something, it turns into a thick fluid, and then it moves into your bloodstream and other channels. Like a fat man can't keep up with his walking companions, this heavy fluid can't move out of your body. It has to find somewhere to rest."

It then becomes the bully on the block. The big bullies in school will often find the most timid kid and pick on him. That's the easiest way for them to establish their turf: Their victim is too weak to put up a fight.

Like that, your toxic waste will seek out the weakest areas in your body and go camp out there. Dr. Krishna Raju says that if you had a head injury, for example, your toxins may start out in your stomach, and make their way to your wounded brain. And you may end up with a hefty mental illness.



Remove It, and You'll Be Free



Dr. Krishna Raju says, "Dentists tell us that if we want to have a healthy mouth, we need to get the plaque off our teeth. Like that, we need to get the plaque off the inside of our bodies, too." He says that if we don't step in, the whole thing can just keep snowballing.

"You may eat an unhealthy meal, for example, and get indigestion," he says. "If your stomach is still disturbed hours later, it may not be able to digest your next meal well. So then you'll have leftover waste from that second meal, too, clogging your system.

"Also, if you make a habit of dwelling on stressful things, you may accumulate emotional toxins. This stress in your nervous system may then cause you to worry even more."

Fortunately, you can break this vicious cycle, and get over your mental disorder. All you have to do is reverse the process of how you got sick. If you take ten steps to the left, how are you going to get back to where you first started? You have to take ten steps to the right. Ayurveda is just those ten steps to the right.

To reverse your steps, you usually just have to go back and clear out the debris. When you do that, miracles can happen. For example, scientists found that some mentally ill people got a lot better once they got cleaned out. These were schizophrenia patients who also needed kidney dialysis. Once the machines filtered out impurities from their blood, the patients' mental symptoms shrank dramatically.⁵

Luckily, you don't have to go on a dialysis machine to get over your mental disorder. You can get rid of your impurities with Ayurveda.

You can, for example, massage and soften the toxic waste, and then flush it out.

I'd like you to get a real taste of this method, so will you please imagine again that you're that Dirty China Plate? You're again sitting on the kitchen counter with dried food crumbs stuck to you like glue. How is your owner going to get you clean?

If you're thinking "hot water," you're right on target. First, your owner would rub those particles with a warm sponge, right? That's one of the first things that you, too, can do to get rid of the sticky waste in your own body. Massage yourself with warm oil, or go to a clinic and get massaged by therapists. This will loosen up your "crumbs"—make them less stubborn about leaving.

What does the owner of the plate do next? She soaks the China Plate in hot water. And that's the next step for you, too: a warm bath or shower, or gentle heat treatments at a clinic.

Now the crumbs on that China Plate, and the ones inside you, are soft and yielding. So what's the next step?

If you said, "Rinse off the plate," you've got the right answer. Pour some water on it, and watch those crumbs go down the drain. Now the China Plate is clean.

The same thing can happen with the real you. After you've softened up your toxins with massage and heat, you can simply do an enema and flush them down the toilet. Or you can get enemas at a clinic.

Dr. Krishna Raju says that this massage-heat-flush method is one of the most powerful ways to get over mental disorders. But many people can be cured without using it. You'll find loads of techniques in this book. Just pick the right ones for you.

IF THE ROOM IS DARK, TURN ON THE LIGHT.

Dr. Krishna Raju says that you can also cure mental disorders by making yourself stronger. "When you're in a dark room, all you have to do is switch on a light," he says. "Ayurvedic methods will give your mind more strength and stamina, so that you can carry the load of life more easily."

In this book, you'll find out how to put the right vibrations into your body—the ones that will get you strong and healthy again.

When I talk about vibrations, it may sound airy-fairy to some people. But scientists have come right out and said it: Everything in the universe is made up of vibrating atoms. You, too, are basically just a bundle of vibrating atoms.

Different things in the universe vibrate at different rates. For example, the atoms in a gas vibrate much more quickly than the atoms in a block of ice do. And we see different colors only because the atoms of each color vibrate at a different frequency.

So when you eat an herb or other food, its frequency goes into you and changes your overall frequency. The same thing happens when you see colors, smell aromas, or hear sounds, for example.

"Everything that we take in is fuel for our mind and body," Dr. Krishna Raju says. "For example, the oxygen that you take in through exercise, and the herbs and oils that you put on your skin, all get absorbed into your bloodstream. The same thing happens when you think a thought, or when you hear a sound.

"If you take in the right vibrations, you can change your own frequency to a healthy one. That's why Ayurvedic practitioners prescribe herbs, minerals, foods, aromas—and even colors and sounds—depending on which vibrations their patients are deficient in, and which ones they have too much of.

"Let's say, for example, that someone is addicted to alcohol and drugs, because he feels that he needs them in order to be happy. When he starts meditating, listening to soothing music, and doing Ayurvedic breathing exercises, his brain will start making more feel-good chemicals, like endorphins and serotonin. Eventually, he may feel so satisfied with this natural 'high' that he won't feel the need for the drugs or alcohol anymore."

In this book, you'll learn how to find out the exact vibrations that you need more of, and the ones that you need to reduce. And you'll get your own customized plan to even out the scales. It's as simple as baking a cake. Is the batter too sweet? Take out some of the sugar. Does the cake need a little more salt? Sprinkle some in. Did you ever think that mental disorders could be so easy to cure?



TEN STEPS TO GETTING WELL



In this book, doctors will give you ten things that you can do to get well:

• Take herbal and mineral medicine

• Eat foods that heal you

• Massage yourself

• Flush yourself clean with enemas

• Do breathing and stretching exercises that heal you

• Meditate yourself back to health

• Smell aromas and look at colors that heal you

• Listen to healing music

• Counsel yourself: Tell yourself positive things so that your old patterns of negative thinking dissolve. (You'll get advice, too, on how to find the right counselor, if you feel the need for that.)

• Oh, and if you want to take the jet route, you'll find out how to get treatments at an Ayurvedic clinic.

You probably won't have to take all ten steps. Look at Ravi's* story, in Chapter 4. His son got over schizophrenia just by taking herbs and minerals. ...Everyone's different. Just take the steps that feel right for you, and know that with each step, you're getting closer to your goal: No more mental disorder!



GO AT YOUR OWN PACE



One thing that I think you'll like about this program is that it's easy. Have you ever heard the expression, "No pain, no gain? Many of us were taught that we have to work hard if we want to get ahead. We have to push ourselves past our limits. And if we're not suffering, then we're not trying hard enough.

But Ayurveda says, "You have no pain, and no strain? Good! You have lots to gain."

"Oh, but you do have pain and strain? Then you have little to gain, and you may even go backward and end up worse off for your efforts."

When people go at their own pace, without straining, they usually build up their strength. Eventually, their "easy" becomes so effortless that they naturally want to climb to the next "easy" level. They keep climbing, but there's no huffing and puffing. There's just enjoyment, and satisfaction as they reach each new goal.



So Do What's Comfortable for You



When I sat down to write this book, I had to choose: Would I make things look super-simple, and just tell you a few things that you can do to get over your mental disorder? Or should I pour out the whole toolbox and give you every tool that I can? I decided to go the second route. That's why you'll find hundreds of suggestions in this book.

But you don't have to do them all. No one can: We're only human. Just do what's comfortable for you, and save the rest for some time when you might be ready to take on more.

You might think of this process as climbing a ladder. Let's use one of the instructions in this book as an example: How to eat yogurt (curd). If you want to start climbing this ladder, you'll see these words at the bottom of it: "Only have yogurt that's made from non-homogenized milk." If you can do that, you're onto what may be the second step for you: "Store-bought yogurt is old and hard to digest, so make your own yogurt." Then if you do that, you're ready to get onto what might be the third rung of the ladder: "Eat yogurt within twenty-four hours after you make it."

You may want to stop there. But in case you're aiming for the top rung, you can follow the last piece of advice: "Homemade yogurt is still somewhat heavy to digest, so dilute it."

Don't worry if you don't climb every ladder to the top. If you try too hard, you might fall on your face and give up on the whole thing. So go easy.

Besides, I wrote this book to help you get rid of your stress. If you try to follow too many guidelines at once, you'll cause yourself stress and defeat the purpose, right?

Getting well should be a joy. For example, you'll find a lot of fun things to do in this book—like smelling beautiful aromas, giving yourself relaxing massages, and listening to soothing music. It's so easy to get well that you might wonder why you went so long thinking that it wasn't possible.

And no matter what steps you take to get out of the brambly woods and into the bright sunlight, it will be exciting to see yourself grow. As the weeks and months pass, you'll be rewarded with bigger and bigger glimpses of the healthy, whole person that you really are. And the more that the brambles clear, the closer you'll be to seeing nothing but a clear, expansive road ahead.



AND THEN WOW! YOU'LL BE WELL.



Let's imagine that the glorious moment has come: You've cured your mental disorder. You breathe a huge sigh of relief, and walk off into the sunset...

The next morning, you wake up and think, "Wow! That horrible burden is finally off my shoulders. Now I can eat all the foods that I've had to stay away from." You treat yourself to a buffet at your favorite restaurant, and stuff yourself to your satisfaction. You watch every violent flick that's playing at your local theaters. You start playing video games until midnight again. And you behave however you like. After all, who cares? Your mental disorder is gone, and you're free.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could forget that we were ever sick, and live our lives as carefree as a bird in a forest? Unfortunately, life is not like that. You got your mental disorder by violating natural laws: by eating, thinking, or behaving wrongly. If you go back to your old ways, you'll again be swimming against the current. Eventually, that current may take you down, and Old Man Mental Illness may stick his big ugly hook into you again.

Dr. Jaya Ramanuja Raju says, "After you're cured, it's important not to go back to the exact lifestyle you had before the mental disorder. If you go back to eating pepperoni pizza and drinking soda pop regularly, and to habitually staying up until midnight, for example, you may cause the same problems that made you sick in the first place."

Even if you're eating well and keeping healthy hours, though, you're going to get wear and tear from the ups and downs of life. So the doctor adds, "It's good, too, to cleanse your body of toxins regularly—with massage, herbs, and other Ayurvedic remedies. That will keep you strong, and help prevent the mental disorder from coming back again."

Dr. Krishna Raju says that your body needs regular maintenance just like your car does. He says, "Your body and your car have one thing in common: The older they get, the more likely they are to break down. And it's for the same reason: wear and tear.

"You take your car in for regular maintenance, to prevent wear and tear and keep it running longer. And you give it enough oil so that the parts run smoothly. You feed it the exact kind of fuel that it's designed to run on, too.

"Like that, it's also good to maintain your body regularly so that it won't break down. For example, you can put oil into your body by massaging it into your skin, and you can give your body the right fuel: healthy food.

"Do you wait until your car breaks down to take it to a mechanic? Do you wait for the mechanic to say, 'Here's something for your problem'? No, you take your car to him when it's running fine, so that he can help keep things that way.

"I advise you to do the same with your body. Don't wait until something goes wrong. Give it maintenance care, and it will run longer for you. You'll have a healthier life."



You Can Move Toward Total Happiness



After you get over your mental disorder, you'll still have your ups and downs, but you'll feel so strong and peaceful that they won't knock you down sick anymore. They'll be like small currents that you have to swim against—not huge tidal waves that engulf you.

Here's what the American Psychiatric Association says about most common mental disorders: You're only sick if your symptoms upset you a lot, or if they interfere with your life a lot.⁵ So you can still have symptoms without having a mental disorder.

Mental symptoms don't have to be distressing. For example, you may have a phobia about snakes. If you're a herpetologist and have to observe snakes, it could interfere with your job. but if you never have contact with snakes, the phobia won't bother you.

Even though you have hang-ups, you can still be happy. Dr. Jaya Ramanuja Raju says, "Ayurveda strengthens the bliss that we're all born with, but that many of us have lost over time. It makes people happier and stronger, so that they can handle the stresses and strains of life without being overshadowed to the point where they need help."

So after you're cured, hang-ups won't have to hang you up anymore. But you don't have to stop there. If you keep doing what you did to cure the mental disorder, you may be able to lick minor problems, too—like low-level anxiety. "Minor mental and emotional upsets are caused by the same imbalances that cause mental disorders," Dr. Krishna Raju says. "So the same things that cure one will also cure the other."

The techniques in this book will help keep you happy, because they reduce stress. Scientists found, for example, that when people took Ayurvedic herbs,⁶ meditated,⁷ or did stretching exercises like the ones in this book,⁸ they had less of the hormone, cortisol. "When you have too much cortisol, that means you're probably feeling distressed," Dr. Jaya Ramanuja Raju says. "If you can keep your cortisol level down, you'll have a better chance of staying mentally well."



THAT'S WHY THIS BOOK WILL HELP HEALTHY PEOPLE, TOO



Maybe you've never had a mental disorder, but you want to keep from getting one. For example, you may want to make sure that you don't end up with Alzheimer's disease one day. Or maybe you want to nip those down-and-out blues in the bud so that they don't blossom into a full-blown depression. This book will give you guidelines for how to prevent these and other mental disorders.

It's a guide for everyone, really. We're getting at the root of things here, and all disorders are basically caused by the same thing: impurities that clog up our body machinery and cause it to go wacky. So no matter what problem you have—whether it's cancer or a common cold—this book will probably help you solve it. And no matter what problem you want to prevent—whether it's a heart attack or arthritis—you'll get guidelines here that you can follow for your whole life.



FINALLY, JUST A FEW MORE THINGS ABOUT THIS BOOK



Throughout it, you'll find personal stories of people who were cured of mental disorders: depression, schizophrenia, anxiety disorder, drug addiction, and bipolar disorder. And in Chapter 14, you'll read people's stories about how they beat their physical health problems: cancer, vertigo, arthritis, eczema, leg cramps, and failing eyesight.

These stories are real. They're not examples that I made up. But many people feel it will reflect badly on them if they say they had a mental disorder, or any disorder at all. So some people asked me to change their names, and I did that.

One more point: I've added a bonus chapter. Many of you are probably taking drugs to control your symptoms. Once you read the first few chapters and start following the doctors' advice, you may feel strong enough to cut down on your dosage, or eliminate it. But how to do that without shocking your body? In this chapter, you'll get general guidelines on how to gracefully let those drugs go.

Then you can contact a healthcare practitioner to get a personal plan. Dr. James Brooks, a psychiatrist, says, "Everyone reacts differently when they withdraw from these drugs. So to be safe, you should only do it under medical supervision."

And finally, don't forget to check out the appendices in this book. They'll tell you how to get remedies and supplies. You'll also find some choice clinics to go to for treatments. And Ayurvedic organizations that can recommend practitioners and give you other advice.

I hope you'll also come visit me at www.healyourmentaldisorder.com. You'll find information there that I couldn't fit into the book. And you'll be able to connect with a community of people like you who are getting well. It's always easier when you don't have to do it alone.



AND NOW YOU'RE READY TO START YOUR JOURNEY



Now we're done prepping you for your trip out of mental illness, and you're ready to roll. But the same shoe doesn't fit everyone; you'll need a program that's customized for you. In Chapter , Dr. Jaya Ramanuja Raju will explain how you can choose the right plan.

So please turn the page, and start this journey to health. I'm excited for you. You'll probably see the clouds fade away more and more, until only a bright sun is lighting up a clear blue sky.



*pseudonym







NOTES:

1. Jackson, Marie D., etal. “Material and Elastic Properties of Al-Tobermorite in Ancient Roman Seawater Concrete.” Journal of the American Ceramic Society Journal of the American Ceramic Society

2. Shoghi-Jadid, Koresh, et al. "Localization of Neurofibrillary Tangles and Beta-Amyloid Plaques in the Brains of Living Patients with Alzheimer Disease." American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 10, no. 1 (2002);: 24-35.

3. Palushaymieri, L., et al. "Altered Calcium Homeostasis in Autism-spectrum Disorders: Evidence from Biochemical and Genetic Studies of the Mitochondrial Aspartate/Glutamate Carrier AGC1." Molecular Psychiatry 15, no. 1 (2008): 38-52

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