Drs. Herbert Benson and Robert K. Wallace of Harvard Medical School, who have been running tests on meditators under stringent laboratory conditions, verify the claims of enthusiasts that meditation does indeed lower oxygen consumption, decrease the heart rate, and increase skin resistance, and that other physiological changes occur that bring about complete rest. The general medical acceptance today of the benefits of meditation chalk up another precognitive hit for Cayce, who advocated it long before Americans had ever heard of yoga and other mind- and body-control exercises.
Cayce and I agree on the importance of exercise, especially in the fresh air, as an aid to relaxation. The best way to get rid of destructive emotion is to take a long walk or work off your hostility with some vigorous exercises, such as tennis, hard calisthenics, throwing a medicine ball, or punching a bag. Baths can be very relaxing or stimulating at different temperatures (see Chapter 10). And, of course, massage and manipulation can relax as well as stimulate. Cayce frequently recommended participation in a relaxing sport—not one that gets one frustrated and angry over scores—as well as music, art, theater, or the pursuit of any hobby that brings a sense of peace and fulfillment. Dr. Selye emphasizes the importance of a change of activity to relieve stress.
Above all, Cayce was a strong advocate of balance in all things, as in this letter that he wrote to me on June 3, 1933:
I certainly do not want to take “no” for the answer regarding your being here [in Virginia Beach] on the 15th, 16th, 17th, or 18th. While I know your farm and your work at this particular time require every bit of your energy, I am sure you preach and demonstrate to those who come to you for relief that “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
. . . budget the time so that there may be a regular period for sustaining the physical being and also for sustaining the mental and spiritual being. As it is necessary for recreation and rest for the physical, so it is necessary that there be recreation and rest for the mental. (3691-1)
Do not overdo same at the expense of the physical or the mental body.
The tendency . . . is to do the whole thing or nothing! Now be rather a middle-ground man once, and see how much better it will be! Work as well as you play—play as well as you work! (279-2)
4
Case Work with Cayce
Know that there is within self all healing that may be accomplished for the body. For all healing must come from the Divine, for who healeth thy diseases? The source of the Universal Supply. (4021-1)
Mind is ever the builder. That which the body-mind feeds upon, that it gradually becomes.
(3102-1)
Mrs. W., a woman of about forty, of Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, was told by three specialists that she had to have her gallbladder removed because it was full of stones. In despair she turned to Cayce, who sent her to me with definite instructions: no operation—instead, colonics, drainage massage, and castor oil packs. Gradually, after about six visits, the pain subsided. Fifteen years later I met Mrs. W. and she happily told me that she still had her gallbladder but no stones.
Mrs. W. was only one of the hundreds of men and women referred to me by Cayce for drugless therapy and suffering from a wide spectrum of dis-ease. Following are several cases sent to me by Edgar Cayce that illustrate the accuracy and detail of his readings.
Case 274
Here is a classic example of the overrated value of diagnostic labels and is one of my favorite true stories. A thirty-four-year-old laboratory scientist, [274] wrote to Mr. Cayce in March of 1933, listing all the symptoms and ailments that had plagued him since childhood:
As a child, jaundice; later erysipelas; then, from time to time, trouble of the following parts: liver, stomach, intestines, prostate, skin, throat, sinus, gums, hair falling rapidly, daily headaches, earaches, rheumatism or rheumatic aches, all of which have led me to a critical state of nervousness, of sexual weakness, of worrying, of depression affecting my mental efficiency (failing memory, restless mind and spiritual development, weak power of concentration) . . .
My weight decreasing all the time. I have followed diets, chiropractic treatments, healers, health foods and what not with little success, or none at all.
Keep in the mental attitude of being constructive in thought. Not any animosity nor any feeling sorry for self or because others are different and better in any respect, enjoying things that should be thine own. For in whatever state ye find thyself, that use to the glory of the Creative Force. (578-13)
The body must not lose courage to carry on, but working in patience know that all healing, all help must arise from constructive thinking, constructive application and most and first of all, constructive spiritual inspiration . . . Use [body] disturbances as stepping stones toward higher and better and greater understanding
(528-9)
Cayce’s diagnosis, consisting of one word, covered the entire range of complaints listed in the letter: “TOXEMIA!”
The Readings Covered a Range of Conditions
Cayce did not put medical diagnostic labels on the patients; they came from the doctors who had previously named their conditions. My referrals included the following ailments:
| acidosis |
| edema |
| obesity |
| anemia |
| epilepsy |
| paralysis |
| arthritis |
| endocrine glands |
| Parkinson’s disease |
| asthenia |
| (incoordination) |
| pelvic disorders |
| angioneurotic edema |
| facial tics |
| phlebitis |
| aftereffects (of colds, operations, and accidents) |
| fibroids |
| poliomyelitis |
| gallbladder trouble |
| polymyositis |
| gallstones |
| pregnancy difficulties |
| back conditions |
| hay fever |
| prostatitis |
| blepharitis |
| head noises |
| psoriasis |
| blood pressure (high and low) |
| heart trouble |
| purpura |
| hemorrhoids |
| rheumatism |
| brain pressure |
| herpes |