The Tao of Rejuvenation: Fundamental Principles of Health, Longevity, and Essential Well-Being

149 Pages·2009·1.181 MB·English

by  Angelo Druda

THE TAO
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REJUVENATION
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Fundamental Principles
Health
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Essential Well
and -Being
Angelo Druda
THE TAO
OF
REJUVENATION
Fundamental Principles
of Healtk
, Longevity,
and Essential Well
Being
-
Angelo Druda
DharmaCafe
DHARMACAFE BOOKS
COBB , CALIFORNIA
©
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Libraryof CongressCataloging-in Publication Data
Druda,Angelo,1948-
The taoof rejuvenation:fundamental principlesof health, longevity,andessential
well-being/ byAngelo Druda.
p.cm.
ISBN 978-1-55643-775-5
1. Rejuvenation.2. Longevity.3. Self-care, Health. I.Title.
RA776.75.D782009
613.2-dc22
2008039337
1 23456 789VERSA141312 11 1009
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T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
FOREWORD ix
xi
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INTRODUCTION The Ancient Art of Bodily Rejuvenation
CHAPTER ONF: The Human Body Contains a Great 1
HealingSpring
CHAPTER TWO: The Ancient Regenerative Secrets of 9
Prayer, Faith, and Fasting
CHAPTER THREE: Conserving Energy, Regenerating Life 25
CHAPTER FOUR: The Regenerative Power of Conscious 45
Exercise and Sexuality
CHAPTER FIVE.: Healthy Blood Is the Foundation of fia
the Regenerative Life
-
CHAPTER SIX A Balanced Nervous System Awakens
the Soma
CHAPTER SEVEN: Unlocking the Secret Spring of 101
the Endocrine System
CHAPTER FIGHT: Restoring Our Organs the Natural Way 113
CHAPTER NINE: Rejuvenating in the Pleasure Dome 135
CHAPTER TEN: The Regenerative Effects of 151
Sleep and Death
APPENDIX ONE: Getting the Dietary Balance Right 167
APPENDIX TWO: Alternative Therapies in the Three-Part
Process of Bodily Regeneration 177
APPENDIX THREE: Rejuvenating the Autonomic Nervous 179
System with Acupuncture and
Network Chiropractic
APPENDIX FOUR: Resources for Rejuvenation 181
FXDNOTF.S 186
INDEX 189
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 201
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F O R E W O R D
For many of us, rejuvenation is a passionate pursuit. We use cos-
meticsurgery to smooth deepeningwrinkles ...Pilates to tone weak-
ening torsos ...cutting-edge nutritional formulas to “ upregulate”
anti-aginggenes. And who can blame us? From dentures to demen-
tia, aging ain’t pretty. Given the chance, whywouldn’t you opt for a
long, refreshingsoak in the Fountain ofYouth?
Well,it’s unlikelyyou’ll find said Fountain bubbling away in the
atrium of the local mall. But if you’ve walked into that mall’s book-
store and starting paging through The Tno of Rejuvenation,you may
have found the next best thing....
—
In this book, Angelo Druda a practitioner of the rejuvenating
modalities of Traditional Chinese Medicine and a devotee of Avatar
Adi Da Samraj, the Giver of ultimate rejuvenation in the radiant
—
wellspring of Conscious Light shares his knowledge and experi-
ence with fortunate readers.
Angelo and I have been friends and fellow devotees of Avatar
Adi Da Samrajfor many years. When he asked me to write the fore-
—
word for this book, I happily said yes even before reading it.
That’s because I knew that any book written by Angelo would
reflect his understanding of the powerful three-part process of
purification, rebalancing, and rejuvenation as taught by Adi Da
— —
Samraj. To me, this process is truly the “tao” the way of rejuve-
nation. And Angelo provides practical methods for implementing
the details of the Tao: among them, methods to develop the calm-
ingattitude of faith; to cleanse and invigorate the organ-nourishing
blood; to energize the endocrine glands, so they continue to
secrete their vitalizing hormones; to practice the balancing regi-
mens of diet, physical activity and sexuality; and, perhaps most
importantly, to live a self-transcending life of service and love, the
source of true peace and happiness.
While writing my most recent health book, Breakthroughs in
Drug-Free Healing (Bottom Line, 2008), I reviewed thousands of
recently published scientific studies that attempted to discover ways
ix
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TIIE TAO OF REJUVENATION
—
to rejuvenate the body and mind to prevent disease and restore
—
health. One such finding was that the most simple habits eating
five servings a day of fruits and vegetables; having a physically active
life, whether at work or at play; drinking moderately; and notsmok-
—
ing can extend life by fourteen years, compared to people who
don’t have those habits. Supporting the findings of that study,
—
Angelo’s book presents simple, reliable, time-tested habits what
—
lie explains as the Taoist “Third Grade” practices of “right living”
for enjoying a long and healthy life.
I am delighted that Angelo has codified his experience and
—
enthusiasms in this book and that it is in your hands. May you
read it happily and use it healthfully.And may what Angelo calls the
“secret spring” of rejuvenation refresh and bless your life.
Bill Gottlieb
Author of AlternativeCuresand BreakthroughsinDing-FreeHealing,
formereditor-in-chief, Prevention Magazine Health Booksand Rodale Books
x
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P R E F A C E
As a young man, I fell in love with chemistry. If I had had it myway,
I would have always been in the lab, marveling at the dramatic reac-
tions you could make just by separating or combining molecules.
Wanting to always be able to access this magic, I built a lab in my
parents’ garage. With almost no restrictions on the chemicals and
equipment we could buy, my friend and I set about making our
own tests, combining elements and watching them interact. There
—
was great energy in some of those reactions enough to give me
some bodily scars I still cany to this day. But there was also mystery
and wonder. And the more we played around, the more I came to
feel that the magic of the human body was right there, just below
the surface of the skin, in the chemicals of life.
Growing up, I always wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to put that
love of chemistry to work in a noble vocation, helping to alleviate
some of the suffering that I saw around me. In high school, the
family doctor noticed my passion and took me in, letting me hang
around the office with him from time to time, showing me medical
books, pictures of the human body, and some of those amazing
devices that are always on doctors’ shelves. Fascinated, I began to
delve deeper into the great schools of Western science, immersing
myself particularly in the study of biology and botany.The scientific
—
pioneers of the Western enlightenment men like Koch, Fleming,
—
and Pasteur became my childhood heroes, right up there with the
legends of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Their work grounded me in a
valuable realism that remains with me to this day.
As I entered adulthood, however, my pre-medical education was
cut short by the passion and politics of the sixties, thus beginning a
young man’s inevitable disillusionment with the aspirations of his
childhood. I began to drift from my early dreams in other direc-
tions, coming under the spell of the Eastern philosophical teach-
ings that were beginning to arrive in the West. I became obsessed
with yogic meditation, diligendy studying and practicing the classi-
cal Indian systems of diet, breathing, and internal concentration.
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TIIE TAO OF REJUVENATION
While otherswere out drinking and partying, I was at home medi-
tating and doingyoga for hours at a time. Though these techniques
are not the path to God that many people claim they are, they do
offer something truly profound: a means to work with the higher
energy systems of the human body, allowing us to magnify healing
and promote well-being far beyond what is possible via ordinary
means. In giving me this knowledge, these techniques taught me to
understand that our universe is animated by a conscious, living,
breathing magic that is every bit as real as the mechanical chemical
processes I played with and studied in my youth.
In the late seventies, a dear friend of mine took my hand in
hers and put her fingers on my wrist. She told me she was demon-
strating Chinese pulse diagnosis, an ancient, sophisticated form of
diagnosis she had been learning whereby she was able to read the
energy patterns in peoples’ bodies. Here was a way to literally feel
this subtle magic, I thought, and so to understand in depth how it
relates to our health and well-being altogether. In an instant, my
passion for medicine returned. This time, though, it would be the
Eastern systems in which I would immerse myself: the great tradi-
tional healingschools of rejuvenative medicine.
My first exposure to rejuvenative medical teachings, though,
came with my study of early Western naturopaths and turn-of-the
century Eclectic herbal doctors. These doctors spoke of the virtues
of right diet, livelihood, and action, and the medicinal power of
herbs. Just through applying what they taught, I was able to trans-
form my life from one driven by confusion and self-indulgence to
something entirely more enjoyable. Those changes, and the under-
standing that came with them, immediately restored my health and
calmed my heart, giving me a logic for right living and well-being.
It was the teachers from the East, however, who talked most
compellingly about the possibility of accelerated human growth
and regeneration. Their work not only went beyond the mere heal-
ing of sickness, it went beyond what even the greatest of the West-
ern doctors and naturopaths had taught. They pointed to a world
that looked so much brighter than the one in which I lived. The
Oriental medical doctors held that our bodies could be raised to a
level of function beyond anything Western medical scientists
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Preface
believed to be possible. The scope and depth of their teachings
quickly infused my scientific realism with a strong dose of inspira-
tion and wonder. It was in the company of these doctors that I
began to understand the immense and mostly untapped potential
for the regenerative life we have as human beings, that our brief
time here on Earth could not only be longer, but also much
brighter, happier, and healthier than it is for most people. Inspired,
I began to seriously study Oriental medicine. Here was a discipline,
I realized, that allowed me to combine my love of the chemistry and
science of life with my passion for the more intuitive,sensory style
of the Eastern traditions, and serve people at the same time.
If it were not for one more encounter, the story I have told thus
far might well sound like that of many of my generation who
crossed the great psychic land bridge from West to East. The most
important meeting of my life was to come in 1975, when I met the
man to whom the greatest debt in my life is owed: Adi Da Samraj.
Adi Da Samraj is a teacher and adept of the ultimate degree, some-
one who has realized complete identification with reality, with Radi-
ant Light. Before I met Adi Da Samraj, I thought that such a com-
plete realization was a myth, a pointer towards a purity that lies
somewhere beyond the life we live. But the utter peace and tangi-
ble radiance that I felt in Adi Da’s company convinced me other-
wise. He embodied everything for which I had always searched.
Adi Da Samrajis a person ofsuch magnitude that there is noth-
ing contained in this book that will make any difference to him.
Like all the greatest realizers of humankind, he is living proof that
there is a much higher spiritual attainment possible than the
achievement of physical longevity or rejuvenation. Having awak-
ened while alive, such beings see no need to preserve the body for-
ever. When you exist in this life fully conscious and utterly happy as
the immortal life-current itself, why would you need to?
In saying this, though, Adi Da Samraj also confirmed how pos-
sible and even necessary it is to raise the level of the body’s func-
tions and rejuvenate ourselves. To that end, Adi Da Samraj spent
decades serving the transformation of thousands of human beings,
all the while demonstrating a capability to conduct and transmit the
higher energies of life far exceeding anything that I thought was
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