SunGazing For Health

Having been born and raised in upstate New York, I know how beautiful the winter sun can be reflecting off the sparkling grains of new fallen snow. I also know how dreary the leaden gray skies of early Spring can be when day after day the sun hides behind heavy clouds.

Winter in Florida is generally sunny and storm fronts move through quickly. I have been here a long time and gotten used to it. On a recent quick trip to North Carolina, I ran into gray, drizzly weather. After two days, I found myself glancing out the window searching for a stray sunbeam. I feel so much better when I see the sun shining.

This helps explain why Dr. Mercola's article rang a bell with me.It's not that I am a sun worshiper, but I believe that God has placed a healing virtue within it and if we use it wisely, we can benefit.

Caution:The sun is a very dangerous piece of real estate. Gazing at it wrongly will damage your eyes. Ultraviolet light must be respected. Please make sure you are fully informed about what you are doing before you attempt gazing or even sun bathing. Your health depends on it. My purpose in creating this lens is to give you something to think about but I would never tell anyone that they should go stare at the sun. As with all health related matters, get expert advice from several different sources before deciding to change your normal routine.

People seem to begin sungazing for different reasons. Because the sun is a holistic energy source, it covers all the color spectrum light waves and is believed to be very healing for the body. When you take in sunlight through your eyes, it activates the pineal gland in your brain and causes your body to start healing itself. In addition, many believe that it activates your brain to wake up in areas of psychic ability and spirituality.

According to Hira Manek, when you normally eat, you are receiving the sun's energy that a plant has processed into a form that you can digest. He says that our bodies are capable of receiving the sun's energy and converting it into a form that our bodies can also use. It's more along the line of how photovoltaic cells work, don't expect to turn green with chlorophyll. In any case, many people who sungaze claim to need less food.

I don't know about that but from a look at my waistline, a little sunshine would be better than that second piece of toast. :0)

There is a sungazing group of people on Yahoo who are convinced there is value in the sun but they scoff at what Hira Manek claims. As with anything else, you should investigate and decide if it is for you.

Ok, so where do we go from here? We hear so much about how the sun causes cancer and/or blindness that our first step has to be research. Apparently there is a whole community of people, quietly sungazing and seeking it's benefits. That is why people like Dr. Mercola are looking into it. You see, when one man like HRM shares a radically different way of living, he can be considered an oddity. When many people make the same claims, you have to investigate it a little closer.

Admittedlty, this borders on the edge of science as we know it. It is also on the fringes of mainline Christianity. Yet Jesus showed us that there is much more available to us as Christians than we will ever tap into on Sunday Morning. We serve a big God. If others have tapped into some of His marvelous mysteries and explained them according to their own belief structures. That doesn't negate the power behind them.

As I was reading about this, I was struck by how many times it was stated that you needed to believe in the process and let negative thoughts go. For me, that is nothing more than walking in Faith and Peace. It's also why you need to have researched this so that you know you are healing not hurting yourself.

For the past few years, Doctors have cautioned us that too much sun exposure causes skin damage and even cancer. As a result, sunscreen has been added to almost everything we use on our skin. Makeup, lotion, and even certain clothing have spf numbers posted on them. Now some doctors are cautioning us that the sunscreen isn't good for us and that we are over using it. In an effort to protect ourselves from too much sun, we aren't getting enough.

Consider these quotes from recent articles:

"Almost no children under the age of one get enough vitamin D in their diets to meet new guidelines, according to a study conducted by researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the journal Pediatrics."Virtually all babies need a vitamin D supplement)

"In the UK, deficiency is at epidemic levels. The same is true in Canada and the northern states of the USA. Even in the southern states like Florida and California, most people live their lives indoors, hiding from the sun while becoming more vitamin D deficient with each passing day. "(Gwyneth Paltrow reveals vitamin D deficiency caused osteopoenia diagnosis )

" You've heard the good news about vitamin D for years: It's a "miracle" medicine that reduces cancer rates by 77% according to previous research (http://www.naturalnews.com/021892_c...). It also happens to be a powerful anti-cancer medicine that can both prevent and help reverse breast cancer."(NaturalNews Vitamin D prevents breast cancer)

The point is that there is a lot of research supporting our need for more Vitamin D. If you aren't getting it from the sun, you probably need to supplement. Too much Vitamin D can be harmful so talk to your health care provider before you make any changes.

I have personally adopted a "compromise regimen.". When I take my early morning walk, I don't use a sunscreen. From what I have read, you can't over dose on Vitamin D from sunshine. You body will only process so much at a time. After about 20 minutes, further sun won't increase your Vitamin D levels so I limit how much time I do spend in the sun. If I am going to the beach or will be outside all day, I use a sunscreen to protect my skin along with a hat or light shirt..

Do your research and develop a routine that you are comfortable with. Even if that is sunscreen all the way and daily Vitamin D supplements, you will have the peace of mind of knowing why you made those choices.