Into the Heart of Health

Health is a precious gift that we should never take for granted. The vast majority of illnesses are not random fate or genetics. They originate from specific causes that need to be identified to treat the actual disease rather than its symptoms. After training as a medical doctor, I joined the growing field of functional medicine because I wanted to have more tools to target what was causing disease in the first place. What I learned is that at the root of most illnesses, there is an imbalance. Whether it is a nutrient, an enzyme, a hormone, or a neurotransmitter, we could treat many medical conditions by regenerating this balance. When the body or the mind deviates from this equilibrium, we cannot process toxins as well, and it causes a breakdown of our defenses that leaves us unprotected against toxins and microbes. It can also create a shift in body chemistry responsible for all sorts of immune reactions. Over the years, I have helped patients by replacing missing nutrients and hormones. Their aches and pains would go away, they would feel energized and sleep better, and their overall health would improve. However, when they were under too much stress and becoming anxious, it could offset this balance overnight. They wouldn’t absorb and benefit from the supplements as well, their energy levels would decrease, and their immunity would weaken. I understood that it wasn’t a myth; stress could indeed kill us because it dramatically disrupts the equilibrium of the body. We keep being reminded that most illnesses are generated from stress and told to stay away from it, but stress is omnipresent and inevitable. The stressors we encounter in our environment, however, are not the real issue; it’s how we process them that matters. Stress is most harmful when we perceive it in a way that creates fear. When it is not associated with fear, stress can actually be a positive stimulating force. My goal has always been to help my patients access vibrant health, meaning that they would feel symptom-free and energized and be more resilient to illness. I wanted to help them rise to a new level of health, a threshold, where they could resist the attacks of stress. The health threshold is a new concept of health, introduced in this book, which reflects the state of balance we need to generate optimal and protective health. At the health threshold, all the systems in our body come to their optimal equilibrium, and our ability to detoxify and resist illness increases tremendously, as is our ability to fight existing disease. As a result, the cells in our body are regenerated, and the aging process slows down. How do we reach this threshold? By going into the heart of health to build an unshakable balance in body, mind, and spirit. This book describes the steps to lasting, vibrant health. It will take you into the discovery of what a miraculous factory your body is and what a fantastic tool your mind is. Knowledge is power, and nothing is more important than knowing thyself. Therefore, I have extracted the content I gathered from many years of studies in conventional and holistic fields that will serve you best in achieving your health goals. My intention is that this book will open for you the door to lasting health, longevity, and joy. You will find new tools to take care of your physical and mental health in quick and efficient ways. You will be able to maintain the strength, vibrancy, and uplifted mood that will keep you from reacting to stress. This is a new era of medicine where we are all working as a team to create the symphony of your health, and you are the conductor. In this new era of cross-coaching where we all learn from one another, the time has come to create a united voice for health. The merging of science and spirituality that is taking place all around the world is bringing us to higher levels of health and happiness. There is a reason why yoga and meditation have become so popular. Conventional medicine and psychotherapy don’t have all the answers, and we need to call ancient wisdom back into our civilization. Our modern world is calling us to get out of our habitual life patterns, to function more independently, and to become the best version of ourselves. More than ever, we need to be able to rely on our physical and mental health. We are living in times of transcendence, and we cannot be held behind by a tired, unbalanced body or a burned-out mind; rather, we need to adapt and thrive as we have done for the thousands of years we have been on this planet. Tapping into the mystical aspect of health is more important now than ever because we need to own all our mystical powers to survive and thrive in this accelerated world. We are the heroes who survived this era, and we need to utilize all the tools we have to be acting as such. This health revolution is emerging in times when we are contemplating a huge leap in our evolution with the incredible advances in technology and communication. More than ever, we need to get in touch with our human powers so we can collaborate with computers rather than being run by them. We have to step into the mastery of our bodies and minds for the new age to overcome the challenges of our very fast-changing world and become resilient to stress. We tend to see ourselves as living in a box—a body limited in space and time. This is how we used to think of the earth centuries ago, before we could see that it was part of a greater galaxy system. When we think that we are just randomly going through life in a container that eventually decays and dies after a certain number of years, we are not exploiting the full potential of our lives. This limiting thought itself is the first existential fear we need to overcome in order to get in touch with the powers we host in our bodies and minds.